Trade matters: Politico and ICG comments, plus prophetic ramifications

From FOEEUROPE

US President Barack Obama expressed his disappointment he was not able to get the type of authority he would like to have in order to negotiate two international trade deals:

June 13 2015

CAPITOL HILL—President Barack Obama says the failure of the House of Representatives to pass a measure to help American workers affected by global trade pacts will “directly hurt about 100,000 workers and their communities.”

“For the sake of those workers, their families, and their communities, I urge those members of Congress who voted against Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) to reconsider and stand up for American workers,” the president said Saturday in his weekly address. http://www.voanews.com/content/obama-trrade-agenda-faces-key-house-vote/2818908.html

Politico posted the following related to the vote last evening:

June 12, 2015

Japan, the European Union and other countries have been waiting years for a clear signal that President Barack Obama had the political muscle to get trade deals through Congress.

They got the opposite on Friday, when Obama trekked up to Capitol Hill to plead for his trade agenda and got smacked down by fellow Democrats. That spells trouble for the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive pact covering about 40 percent of world economic output. The failure of the trade bill also casts doubt on the sprawling European trade negotiations, and will make other nations less likely to trust the Obama administration’s ability to negotiate everything from auto tariffs to currency rules around the world. …

For Japan, there’s little incentive to agree to tough U.S. demands to eliminate agricultural tariffs on rice and a long list of other farm products if Obama can’t get the agreement through Congress in one piece. The same for Vietnam, which is under pressure to strengthen its labor and environmental practices in exchange for increased access to the U.S. shoe and clothing market.

And while U.S. union groups made the proposed trans-Pacific trade pact public enemy No. 1 in their effort to defeat the fast track trade bill, today’s action also endangers the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks with Europe, negotiations aimed at eliminating tariffs on environmentally friendly goods and promising recent efforts to revive long-stalled world trade talks.

“It’s clear the TTIP negotiations are going to take more time than anyone hoped” when they were launched in mid-2013, said Linda Dempsey, vice president for international economic affairs at the National Association of Manufacturers. But fast track approval would provide some momentum and “take an excuse off the table” for European negotiators not to engage more seriously, she said. …

The transatlantic talks with the European Union are not as far along as the TPP. But spurred partly by the hope of House approval of the trade bill, Obama and European leaders this week pledged to aim for “the outline of an agreement as soon as possible, preferably by the end of the year.”

Many consider that an ambitious target because of concerns in Europe about investment provisions of the agreement that opponents argue could undermine the ability of governments to regulate in the public interest. In addition, revelations of National Security Agency spying still hang over the pact and add to public suspicion. Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/barack-obama-trade-agenda-faces-world-of-doubt-118956.html#ixzz3cwtpB0KV

The Europeans, and others, are frustrated with the USA about this. Furthermore as the above indicates, the Europeans still have not gotten over the Snowden leaks that the US National Security Agency repeatedly spied on them.

Perhaps I should add that many in Europe fear that TTIP will force them to have to import genetically modified foods as well as antibiotic laden beef. Some in the USA have food concerns about TPP. Notice the following:

For example, the TTIP could potentially lead to reducing EU requirements for labeling food containing genetically engineered ingredients and nanomaterials. It could also relax rules for meat produced with certain antibiotics and hormones, poultry raised on feed additives that contain arsenic, and meat produced with a growth-promoting drug called ractopamine. …

In the U.S., consumer advocates are concerned that the TPP will mean less safe food imported into the U.S. In Europe, there’s concern that the TTIP will relax the EU’s more stringent standards for meat, pesticides, and GMOs.

Overall, the EU’s approach to food safety and chemicals is considered more precautionary than the United States’. But what’s allowed, say, in Asian aquaculture, is considered less stringent than what’s allowed in the U.S. Yet there are also countries in the TPP with policies that could restrict imports of U.S. products — such as Peru, which requires labeling of food containing GMOs and Japan, which has stringent food additive standards.

It’s likely that both agreements will lower the standards for food safety across the board, simply to allow more food to be imported and exported between the partner nations. http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/2015/05/20/what-do-international-trade-agreements-have-to-do-with-dinner/

Currently, there appears to be more concerns in Europe about these agreement related to food quality/safety than in the USA. I perhaps should add that I agree with many of the European concerns (see GMOs and Bible Prophecy and/or watch Are Americans & Asians setting themselves up for destruction from antibiotic use?).

Apparently the main issues for the Democrats in the USA have to do with job loss and perceptions of unfair trade. Other opposers tend to have concerns about loss of USA sovereignty and that these type of agreements are leading to some type of new world order.

Notice the following:

June 13, 2015

The newest issue of The New American features an article explaining ten reasons why American citizens should oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). …

Ten Reasons Why You Should Oppose the TPP & TTIP

1: Sovereignty will be lost.

2: The TPP and TTIP are “living,” “evolving” agreements.

3: It’s being planned in secret.

4: The TPP and TTIP are not about “free trade.”

5: It is an immigration Trojan Horse.

6: It merges America with China/Russia.

7: Could the TPP/TTIP be used to foist gun control on Americans?

8: The jobs and prosperity myth

9: The TPP and TTIP are corporatist schemes.

10: The TPP and TTIP are regional transitions in the push toward a world government. http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/pearland/opinion/new-american-ten-reasons-why-you-should-oppose-the-tpp/article_f7fd2887-0229-517d-b9c5-95e5bf50d619.html

ICG’s Mark Armstrong made the following comments in his newsletter last night about the trade deal situation:

What on earth is Obamatrade? No one knows, save the handful of Washington legislators with sufficient Top Secret clearances to be able to attend private meetings behind locked doors. However some details have leaked out, and while not widely available, they include some of the most stunning developments imaginable.

Congressmen, including several who style themselves as conservative, unbelievably are campaigning for quick passage. According to some who have had access to the proposed law, it creates an international commission which will have the power to enact regulations in the United States along with other signatory nations. Global warming/energy usage regulations, immigration regulations, and who knows what kind of rules and regulations the citizens and businesses of America might be subjected to by some international commission?

Thank goodness it failed in a sound defeat today, Friday. And that after the president himself had run all over the place insisting he had to have it. Unbelievably, several of those considered to be solid conservatives were themselves campaigning to pass this unknown measure into law even though no one seems able to clearly articulate what it would mean. Given the record of the past six years and all the executive actions, many of which appear to be blatantly illegal and in direct contravention of Federal and State law (and certainly not in the interests of preserving the integrity of the United States or its position of leadership in the world), if Obama wants it that bad, how good could it be?

They tell us that passage is crucial to the president’s second term legacy. As far as we’re concerned, the president’s legacy has already been cemented in the policies and actions of the past six years. They’ve been nothing but destructive to the demographic makeup of the population; they’ve seen race relations plummet; people have been encouraged to defy and disrespect police; criminals are running amok and shooting it out in the nation’s big cities; there is no end to the mandates they’ve tried to impose upon us; they’re systematically destroying the dollar, spending America into the poorhouse with social programs, welfare, food-stamps, housing programs and disability for all who claim it. But they haven’t given up trying to grant the president “fast track international treaty authority.” Apparently there will be more arm-twisting over the weekend and early next week, and they intend to bring this secret monstrosity to another vote sometime next week. Regardless of some of the big-name conservatives backing its passage, I personally hope it goes down in flames.

Having placed a calls to several House representatives’ and Senators’ offices, I told them that giving an international body regulatory powers over many nations including the United States sounds to me like the stinking Mark of the Beast! After that it was so quiet I had to make sure they hadn’t hung up on me. (They hadn’t.)

Mark Armstrong has tended to be more directly political than most COG-related leaders. As far as the mark of the beast goes, check out the article the Mark of the Beast . That being said, even if something else happens in US Congress related to trade next week, the vote yesterday is showing the Europeans that they cannot count on USA leadership like they had hoped.

Irrespective of warnings and votes, the Bible tells of a time when a Babylonian European Beast power will control buying and selling and dominate world trade:

16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666. (Revelation 13:16-18)

19 Alas, alas, that great city, in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth! (Revelation 18:19)

The Bible shows that this will make merchants of the world wealthy (cf. Revelation 18; Ezekiel 27:12-16).

Could TTIP be a prelude to Revelation 13:16-18? It seems like it very well may be (although the name of it could be changed to assuage public protest). The failure in the vote yesterday is more proof to certain leaders in Europe that the USA simply cannot lead like it has. Many European leaders have wanted Europe to take the lead on trade and other matters, and they ultimately will do so according to biblical prophecy.

Economically, the USA is no longer going to be the head, but the tail (cf. Deuteronomy 28:13,44). This new world order will result in the Europeans being on top (but only for a while).

For at least two decades, I have believed that a split would happen between the USA and the Europeans partially because of how the Europeans will view how the USA handles/mishandles bilateral trade issues (there are also other factors like USA debt, GMOs, etc.). As I have written before, the Europeans are still very hurt over USA espionage and I believe they will not ever truly get over it–they will make trade deals, but they will no longer trust the USA as they once did. Since the USA has basically stated that the continental Europeans are NOT close friends, this will not be lost on the leaders in Europe (see also The Snowden Leaks are Leading to the Destruction of the USA).

In general, trade agreements should benefit both parties involved. Yet as I warned about the current trade talks in the past, ultimately, whatever the final trade deal with the EU will not be good for the United States of America nor the British (nor their Anglo-Saxon dominated allies like Canada, Australia, or New Zealand).

I suspect that there will be a few areas of major disagreement that will happen in such a trade deal, and that to hide their disappointment, some representing end-time Europe will declare that all is basically fine before they end up taking over the USA, which is prophesied in such scriptures as Daniel 11:39, 8:24-25, etc. The results are more than the loss of normal sovereignty–the USA will be no more.

This does not mean that there are no short-term economic benefits for the USA or others from proposed trade deals. Only that prophetically, the Bible shows that the Europeans will, for a time, dominate international trade.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe? Here is a link to a video titled: Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European?
European Technology and the Beast of Revelation Will the coming European Beast power would use and develop technology that will result in the taking over of the USA and its Anglo-Saxon allies? Is this possible? What does the Bible teach? Here is a related YouTube video: Military Technology and the Beast of Revelation.
Must the Ten Kings of Revelation 17:12 Rule over Ten Currently Existing Nations? Some claim that these passages refer to a gathering of 10 currently existing nations together, while one group teaches that this is referring to 11 nations getting together. Is that what Revelation 17:12-13 refers to? The ramifications of misunderstanding this are enormous.
World War III: Steps in Progress Are there surprising actions going on now that are leading to WWIII? Might a nuclear attack be expected? Does the Bible promise protection to all or only some Christians? How can you be part of those that will be protected? A related video would be Is World War III About to Begin? Can You Escape?
WTO/TTIP and the Babylonian Beast Will international trade agreements like WTO/TTIP/CETA lead to the fulfillment of end time prophecies concerning the Babylonian Beast power that the Book of Revelation warns against? What does the Bible teach? A related video would be WTO Trade Deal and the Rise of the European Beast Power.
GMOs and Bible Prophecy What are GMOs? Since they were not in the food supply until 1994, how could they possibly relate to Bible prophecy? Do GMOs put the USA and others at risk? Here is a related YouTube video GMO Risks and the Bible.
Chimeras: Has Science Crossed the Line? What are chimeras? Has science crossed the line? Does the Bible give any clues?
The Snowden Leaks are Leading to the Destruction of the USA Can what happened with the leaks of what the NSA has done help the USA to be taken over? What does the Bible teach that seems to be related to this? Here is a related YouTube video titled Are the Snowden NSA leaks leading to the destruction of the USA?
Is Russia the King of the North? Some claim it is. But what does the Bible teach? Here is a link to a video, also titled Is Russia the King of the North?
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies for the Great Monarch point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States? In the Spanish language check out ¿Quién es el Rey del Norte? Here is a link to a video titled: The Future King of the North.
Germany’s Assyrian Roots Throughout History Are the Germanic peoples descended from Asshur of the Bible? Have there been real Christians in Germanic history? What about the “Holy Roman Empire”? There is also a You-Tube video sermon on this titled Germany’s Biblical Origins.
Germany in Biblical and Catholic Prophecy Does Assyria in the Bible equate to an end time power inhabiting the area of the old Roman Empire? What does prophecy say Germany will do and what does it say will happen to most of the German people? Here are links to two sermon videos Germany in Bible Prophecy and The Rise of the Germanic Beast Power of Prophecy.
Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, English, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Saxon (non-Dutch) Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? What will happen to Jerusalem and the Jews in Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo-Saxon nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first? Here is a link to the Spanish version of this article: Anglo-América & las Tribus Perdidas de Israel. Information is also in the YouTube sermons titled Where are the Ten Lost Tribes? Why does it matter? and British are the Covenant People. A short YouTube of prophetic interest may be Barack Obama and the State of the Apocalypse.
Who is the King of the West? Why is there no Final End-Time King of the West in Bible Prophecy? Is the United States the King of the West? Here is a version in the Spanish language: ¿Quién es el Rey del Occidente? ¿Por qué no hay un Rey del Occidente en la profecía del tiempo del fin?
Prophecies of Barack Obama? Reasons why Barack Obama is apocalyptic and reasons why Barack Obama is not the Antichrist. This article includes many biblical and non-biblical prophecies, from around the world, that seem to discuss Barack Obama. Did Nostradamus predict Barack Obama dealing with the Antichrist? Might Barack Obama set the stage for the kings of the North and South as at least one Shiite prophecy suggests? Read it and decide for yourself if President Obama seems to be fulfilling various prophecies. Watch also the YouTube Barack Obama and the State of the Apocalypse.