Japan is offering to slash protections for domestic meat products as part of ongoing negotiations with the United States over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP. The secretive trade deal involves 12 countries and 40 percent of the global economy. Trade ministers plan to discuss the pact in Singapore next week. On Wednesday, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren criticized the secretive nature of trade talks during a speech at Public Citizen’s gala in Washington, D.C.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: “From what I hear, Wall Street, pharmaceuticals, telecom, big polluters and outsourcers are all salivating at the chance to rig the deal in the upcoming trade talks. So the question is: Why are the trade talks secret? You’ll love this answer. Boy, the things you learn on Capitol Hill. I actually have had supporters of the deal say to me, 'They have to be secret, because if the American people knew what was actually in them, they would be opposed.'”