Obama’s Trade Policy

Peter Maybarduk

Peter Maybarduk, Public Citizen Global Access to Medicines Program Director

Our program at Public Citizen strives to keep medicines affordable for people around the world.

Sometimes the influence of money in politics gets in the way. For the past three years we have been monitoring secretive trade negotiations which could compromise health interests. Last week, New York’s mayor Michael Bloomberg published an editorial criticizing the harm these negotiations could do to efforts to curb youth smoking and tobacco-related deaths.

From leaked documents and relationships with negotiators, we know that unfortunately the US government has proposed some very harmful measures. Together with Judit Rius Sanjuan of MSF / Doctors Without Borders I wrote this letter, published in the New York Times, online and print edition.