The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a trade deal involving the United States and 11 other countries, involving about 40% of the world’s markets. It’s meant to encourage trade, which is important for agricultural and manufacturing in Wisconsin, where we import and export in roughly equal measure and we rely on having the world’s markets open to our products.

But is the TPP a good deal? That’s much more difficult to say. It’s more than 6,000 pages long and has 30 chapters before you reach the “annexes” and “related instruments.” You can read it all here.

One thing you can be sure of, is that anyone leaping to a conclusion and offering a snap judgment on a 6,000-page treaty is not exercising good judgment. My background includes 31 years in manufacturing, and while I understand the plastics industry, I do not possess the in-depth knowledge of other industries to fully understand the impact that a 6,000-page deal may have on them.

That’s why I have been carefully and systematically asking Wisconsinites for their input and assessment of the deal. Only when we better understand how the TPP will affect all Wisconsinites can any of us honestly weigh the costs and benefits of the deal. People’s livelihoods are on the line, so this agreement deserves full and careful consideration.