Critics of the highly-secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations responded with outrage after U.S. President Barack Obama charged they have a “lack of knowledge of what is going on in the negotiations” and dismissed their concerns as “conspiracy theories.”

The president made the comments this week during a press conference in Malaysia—one of the stops on his Asia-Pacific tour, aimed at advancing the TPP and the U.S. military “pivot” to the region. His tour has been met with region-wide protests against the economic and military agenda of the U.S.

Obama stated:

SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT