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Denver Is 1st Stop For Tour Protesting Trans-Pacific Partnership

By Melissa Garcia

DENVER, Colo. (CBS4) - High-profile celebrities came to Denver Saturday to perform in a concert and event protesting the Trans-Pacific Partnership, also known as the TPP.

Rock Against the TPP kicked off with a rally outside of the downtown venue, Summit Music Hall on 19th and Blake streets.

The TPP has been a major point of contention in the race for the White House.

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(credit: CBS)

The concert was the first stop in a nationwide tour aimed at raising awareness on the dangers that activists say the TPP would pose to people across the board.

"It's essentially a corporate power grab that's disguised as a trade deal," said Evan Greer of Fight for the Future. "The TPP would give multi-national corporations extraordinary new powers to undermine, for example, workers' rights, environmental standards, to jack up the cost of accessible medicine that we all depend on."

President Barrack Obama, however, has made passing the agreement a top priority for his last year in office.

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(credit: CBS)

"If we fail to get the Trans-Pacific Partnership done, if we do not create the architecture for high-standards trade and commerce in this region, then that void will be filled by China. It will be filled by our economic competitors," Obama said. "They will make the rules, and those rules will not be to our advantage."

The 12-country partnership touts the elimination of more than 18,000 taxes to help sell more American-made products abroad.

Evangeline Lilly, a Canadian actress touring with Rock Against the TPP said that the deal would be detrimental to the US.

Evangeline Lilly
Evangeline Lilly is interviewed by CBS4's Melissa Garcia (credit: CBS)

"I'm just here to plead with Americans to be smarter than we were on the other side of the border," Lilly said. "Don't sell your country. Don't sell your democracy. Don't sell your sovereignty to the highest corporate bidder through the TPP."

LINKS: Rock Against the TPP | Fight for the Future

Melissa Garcia has been reporting for CBS4 News since March 2014. Find her bio here, follow her on Twitter @MelissaGarciaTV, or send your story idea to mkgarcia@cbs.com.

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