Obama-Merkel Push TTIP, as Support for Transatlantic Union Tanks

President Obama is battling public opinion headwinds as he promotes the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on his current tour of Europe. Thirty-five thousand anti-TTIP demonstrators turned out on Saturday, April 23, in Hanover, Germany, where Obama held meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and top executives of international corporations.

But the massive anti-TTIP demonstrations that have dogged the treaty for the past couple years are not the most important indicator that it is facing huge opposition. A new poll by Bertelsmann Stiftung, the German media conglomerate, and the polling firm YouGov shows that public support for “free trade” in general and the TTIP in particular have plunged dramatically in Germany since 2014, while TTIP support in the U.S. has also plummeted.

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According to the Bertelsmann-YouGov survey, German public support for the massive “partnership” agreement has fallen from 55 percent approval in 2014 to only 17 percent in 2016. During that same period actual opposition to TTIP has grown significantly, from 25 percent in 2014 to 33 percent today. German support for free trade in general has dropped from 88 percent two years ago to 56 percent today.

In the United States, according to the survey, public support for the TTIP has taken a dive from 53 percent in 2014 to a mere 15 percent today. However, the polls shows that, in general, Americans still support the idea of free trade. “Compared to Germany, public opinion in the USA is more differentiated,” notes the Bertelsmann-YouGov poll. “Approval of free trade is generally stable and has even increased. However, the actual TTIP agreement has few proponents in the USA, and that number is shrinking. 82 percent of those surveyed in the USA have a positive overall opinion of free trade, representing an increase over figures from 2014 (71 percent).”

Much of the decline in support for the TTIP is due to public outrage over the secrecy (see here and here ) of the negotiation process over the past several years, during which giant globalist corporations were given a privileged place at the table, while the public and their elected representatives were frozen out. Once the secret texts were leaked out, there were additional reasons for outrage. Among other things, it became obvious that the proposed new “partnership” is an all-out assault on national sovereignty, modeled after the evermore abusive “integration” and “convergence” scheme that is binding EU member states into an “ever closer union” that is increasingly corrupt and tyrannical.

On his arrival in Germany, President Obama, referring to Chancellor Merkel by her first name, said: “Angela and I agree that the United States and the European Union need to keep moving forward with the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations.” Both Obama and Merkel said they hope to see the TTIP negotiations wrapped up and a final text of the treaty available before the end of the year. Merkel said completing the deal would be a “win-win situation” for all. However, the TTIP, if ratified, would definitely be a “win-win situation” for corporatist one-worlders. Obama and Merkel dined in royal splendor in a 17th century palace with the CEOs of some of the largest U.S. and German companies such as Microsoft, Dow, Lockheed Martin, Honeywell, Volkswagen, BASF, Bayer, and Siemens.

Invoking Fear of War to Nix “Brexit” Fever

President Obama is using his European trip not only to promote the TTIP transatlantic merger, but also to do his part to bully voters in the UK away from supporting the “Brexit” (exiting the EU). The Brexit is inspiring additional moves in other EU member countries to reverse the EU’s powers over immigration, security, banking, monetary policy, etc.

“A strong and united Europe is a necessity for the world,” Obama said in his speech in Hanover, which sits in a region that has been devastated by the Merkel/UN refugee/migrant deluge. “Perhaps you need an outsider, somebody who is not European, to remind you of the magnitude of what you have achieved,” he said, reminding them of the consequences of “intolerance and extreme nationalism” that drenched Europe in blood during the 20th century. “In the last century, just twice in 30 years, the forces of empire and intolerance and extreme nationalism consumed this continent and cities like this one were largely reduced to rubble,” Obama said. He warned Germans and Europeans against “turning inward,” and offered an obvious appeal for support for Angela Merkel’s ongoing plans for continued importation of Muslim migrants.

“I want you to remember,” Obama declared, “that our countries are stronger, they’re more secure and more successful when we integrate people of all backgrounds and faiths, and make them feel as one. And that includes our fellow citizens who are Muslim.”

Photo of President Obama with German Chancellor Merkel: AP Images