Localism & more reasons to say NO to the US trade deal

I was asked to speak about Food and Farming in relation to the US Trade Deal at a ‘Global Justice Now’ demonstration in Cambridge. During the meeting I discovered more reasons to say NO to the US trade Deal in addition to the 5 in our previous blog here

Thousands of people joined protests all over the country, more here, and highlighted why a free trade deal with a country with corporate bullies and totally different standards to the UK could be extremely bad for us.

Yes we export lots of products to the USA and a free trade deal could be good for some UK businesses but at what cost?

1. Our health: Did you know that many chemical used in US cosmetics and agriculture are illegal in the UK and EU? Surely just the like chlorinated chicken if these products are illegal to produce in the UK the products should also be illegal.

2. The next major disease: Nearly every disease we have from the common cold to HIV and Covid has come from animals. Intensive meat production farms are the perfect place for new viruses to mutate and evolve. In the USA some lakes contain Amoeba that eat people’s brains by entering through the nose. We must do everything we can to keep these diseases away from the UK

3. Tax: Amazon, and many US big corporates take our money but pay little or no tax. The US trade deal may help more big American corporates in to the UK, sell their products and services but pay no tax. This makes UK companies uncompetitive and decrease tax revenue to pay for the huge amount of money the government is currently borrowing.

If you have not acted yet, then please tweet or email your MP by finding them here and sending a variant of this template letter.

Wouldn’t we all be better to avoid big business and try and spend as much as possible with local organisations who employ local people and invest their money locally? Perhaps start with food using our Local Food Map.