California Environmental, Labor Groups Object To Trans-Pacific Partnership

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- California environmental groups and labor organizations are objecting to a trade deal signed by the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries on Wednesday.

The White House released a statement from President Barack Obama Wednesday, saying the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement is a "forward-looking trade deal that sets new, high standards for trade and investment."

Obama said the trade deal puts American workers first.

But the California Labor Federation released a statement Wednesday saying that not only was the trade deal negotiated in secret, but that it would cost the U.S. thousands of jobs. The California Labor Federation cited a Peterson Institute for International Economics report that suggests 121,000 manufacturing jobs could be lost in the deal.

Obama said the deal eliminates more than 18,000 taxes and trade barriers that countries put on 'Made in America' products.

"Right now, the rules of global trade too often undermine our values and put our workers and businesses at a disadvantage. TPP will change that," Obama said.

The president said the deal "includes the strongest labor standards and environmental commitments in history – and, unlike in past agreements, these standards are fully enforceable."

But the San Francisco-based Sierra Club disagrees. The Sierra Club released a statement Wednesday saying that the deal is "deeply flawed" and should not be moved to Congress for approval.

A Sierra Club report on the TPP titled, A DIRTY DEAL: How the Trans-Pacific Partnership Threatens our Climate, released in December 2015, states that the deal makes no effort to combat climate disruption and that the TPP "would actually fuel the climate crisis."

The Sierra Club report maintains that the deal would not only empower fossil fuel corporations to attack climate policies in private tribunals, but it would lock in fossil fuel production by expediting natural gas exports, as well as increase climate disrupting emissions by shifting U.S. manufacturing overseas. The Sierra Club said the deal would impose new limits on government efforts to combat climate change.

Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune said in a statement Wednesday, that the signing of the "the polluter-friendly Trans-Pacific Partnership"  is a "Russian roulette for our economy and our climate."

Brune said the TPP will favor "powerful big polluters and other greedy corporations" such as TransCanada, which was permitted under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to sue the American people for $15 billion in January in an effort to compensate the company for the U.S.'s decision not to move forward with the fourth phase of the Keystone XL pipeline.

"The TPP sweetens the pot for many more foreign fossil fuel corporations, empowering them to follow TransCanada's bad example of challenging our climate protections in private trade tribunals," Brune said.

The environmental non-profit Greenpeace also released a statement Wednesday saying that they believe the deal will accelerate hydraulic fracturing and threaten wildlife in the U.S.

Greenpeace officials expressed concern that the TPP allows for cutting tariffs on shark fins and on palm oil, threatening shark populations and allowing palm oil plantations to expand and thus destroy critical tiger habitats in Southeast Asia.

"The deal is truly awful," Greenpeace officials said.

Anti-TPP demonstrations were held in New Zealand on Wednesday, where the agreement was signed.

By Hannah Albarazi - Follow her on Twitter