text: You can only fool voters for so long before they start to figure things out. The TPP wasn't a "free trade" pact. Rather, it mainly promoted corporate interests as was noted by the economist Joseph Stiglitz, who said during a CNN interview that "The advocates of trade said it was going to benefit everyone. The evidence is it's benefited a few and left a lot behind." Stiglitz has been particularly critical of the investor protection language in modern trade deals as well as the corresponding lack of protection accorded labour rights and interests.