Truss issues

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Hi John,

Our new trade secretary Liz Truss is a free-market fanatic. She sees regulation as a problem and has derided the British public as “among the worst idlers in the world”. [1]

She is now leading the charge for a toxic trade deal with Donald Trump that could hand over unprecedented new powers to big business, at extreme costs to people and the environment.

This kind of US-UK trade deal – that gives away control to corporations – is the centrepiece of prime minister Boris Johnson’s plan for Brexit. We’re going to need to mobilise a big movement to stop it. Can you take the first step by signing our petition?

Say no to a trade deal with Trump

Last week Truss whisked herself off to Washington DC to talk trade with Trump’s officials. She also found time to make a speech to the Heritage Foundation, an extreme right-wing think tank pushing a ‘model free trade deal’ between the US and the UK that would lock in privatisation of the NHS, slash food standards and enhance the powers of big tech companies like Google and Facebook. [2]

Truss is no stranger to the shady corridors of hard-right Washington pressure groups. In September 2018, she attended a number of 'off the record' meetings with the Heritage Foundation and other free-market lobbyists to discuss 'regulatory reform'. [3] Truss makes no secret of the kind of reforms she has in mind. She recently argued that the UK could learn from Trump's approach to regulation. [4]

We can't stand for this. Take action now to tell our new trade secretary that we refuse to accept her trade deal with Trump.

Sign the petition

A 'no deal' Brexit is looking likelier by the day. And we now have a trade secretary in power who shows more respect to hard-right US lobbyists than the British public. All this makes the threat of a toxic trade deal with Trump more urgent than ever before.

We know from recent leaks that the US administration is already pushing for lower food standards, higher medicine prices and against taxes on Big Tech companies. This should alarm us, but will doubtless be music to the ears of Truss. When people have raised concerns about Airbnb within the housing sector, her answer has been simple: cut all regulations. She’s called for sweeping cuts to regulations in the workplace, too, boasting about making it easier for employers to sack workers. The problem with the railways isn’t, for Truss, that they are run for profit, but that they haven’t been privatised enough. [5]

Truss is even proposing turning British ports into tax havens. Her so-called 'free ports' proposal would remove ports from the UK's customs border, meaning big business can operate in these zones with slashed regulations and zero tariffs. [6]

Liz Truss's toxic trade agenda is about nothing other than strengthening the hand of the rich and powerful while the rest of us pay the price. And a sweetheart deal with Trump is at the centre of her plans.

Add your name to our petition calling on Truss to abandon this destructive trade deal with Trump.

Sign the petition today

Liz Truss may think that the British people are idle, but together we can prove that we are nothing of the sort. Thousands of us took action to stop TTIP (the proposed EU-US trade deal now kicked into the long grass). If enough of us take a stand, a disastrous US-UK trade deal can be blocked too.

Thank you,

James Angel
Campaigner, Global Justice Now

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/29/trump-trade-deal-britain-bonfire-regulations-liz-truss-brexit
[2] https://www.globaljustice.org.uk/news/2019/aug/8/uk-government-pushing-ahead-extreme-us-trade-deal-no-mandate
[3] https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2019/08/04/liz-truss-trade-us-trump-deregulation-brexit/
[4] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/01/05/conservatives-mission-must-give-control-back-people-state/
[5] https://1828uk.com/2019/01/30/fighting-corbyn-with-freedom-how-to-embrace-generation-z-2/
[6] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/freeports-brexit-uk-trade-boris-johnson-eu-customs-duty-liz-truss-a9035031.html

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