OPP adopted this statement at our monthly meeting last night:

LET THE PUBLIC AND THE LIGHT IN

The American public is once again being shut out of negotiations being held in our name and supposedly for our benefit. What do the negotiators of the new version of NAFTA have to hide?

As the first round of NAFTA negotiations between the US, Mexico and Canada conclude, it is clear that the hoped for transparency will not materialize in spite of the promises made by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. In fact, US trade officials have now declared that trade documents will be “classified”, meaning that once again a trade deal involving America's largest, most important trade partners will be negotiated in secret. Even the public stakeholder events which have happened during negotiations of other trade agreements did not, and will not, happen.

Oregonians can only hope that our US Representatives and Senators will join together in calling for openness and transparency in the rest of the negotiations as a first condition for a renegotiated agreement acceptable to the people of all three nations. If not, We the People will reject any resulting agreement produced in dark smoke-filled rooms of corporate lobbyists.