[CTC] Treasury must decide by April 15 whether to label China currency manipulator

Wed Mar 17 09:16:15 PDT 2010

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Notes from Briefing Call on Trans Pacific Partnership Negotiations

March 16th, 2010 2:00 pm EST

Representative Mike Michaud
<http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&ved=0CAcQFDAA&url=htt
p%3A%2F%2Fmichaud.house.gov%2F&rct=j&q=Congressman+Michaud+&ei=ZN2fS73DCp_MM
NqWjLwM&usg=AFQjCNGjwz-GFvrXvA-0xKhukIHx2__Q6w> ,  Lori Wallach
<http://www.citizen.org/trade/article_redirect.cfm?ID=9692>  and Andy
Gussert. <http://www.citizenstrade.org/contact_ctc.php> 

On Monday, over two hundred negotiators from eight countries met in
Australia to continue discussions on the Trans-Pacific Partnership.  The
participant countries are home to 470 million people, and have a combined
GDP of $16.2 trillion*.

Congressman
<http://www.michaud.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=969&
Itemid=76>  Michaud thanked activists for their work on getting over 135
cosponsors onto the TRADE Act <http://www.citizenstrade.org/tradeact.php> ,
which serves as a roadmap for structuring the future TPP.

It's best to parcel out the TPP into four areas.

1) Politics

Candidate Obama committed to specific reform in questionnaires
<http://www.citizenstrade.org/hope.php>  and in the
<http://www.citizenstrade.org/pdf/PlatformExcerptsOnTrade.pdf>  platform,
which should make up a new American trade policy (talking points
<http://www.citizenstrade.org/pdf/New_American_Agenda.pdf> ).

The issue is whether this agreement will be like the TRADE Act, reflecting
those Obama <http://www.citizenstrade.org/platform.php>  commitments and
promises, or will it be based on the Bush model for
status-quo-more-of-the-same.

The political folks in the Whitehouse know they need to get a majority of
democrats behind any trade agreement, unlike the Peru FTA.  They also know
trade is one of the most powerful campaign issues, in television ads
<http://www.citizenstrade.org/elections2008.php> ,
<http://www.citizenstrade.org/polling.php>  polling and election results.
<http://www.citizenstrade.org/2008elections.php> 

CTC will develop a bird-dogging question on the TPP in the upcoming month to
ask of all candidates and members going into 2010.

2) Policy

We need to carefully track whether the TPP becomes NAFTA w/ Vietnam, or
reflect President Obama's prior articulation of trade reform.

Many are billing the TPP as a "new generation" regional deal, reflecting a
need to create a "modern agreement".  

Others see it as a way to sidestep Doha round negotiations, or to as a
counterforce to combat a growing Asian trade bloc.  Still others describe it
as a template for the broader free trade agreement with China, Japan and
other Asian countries.

This week they are focusing discussions on obstacles in green technology,
tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers, e-commerce, services and intellectual
property.  Six working groups are covering rules of origin, agriculture,
technical barriers to trade, intellectual property rights and legal and
institutional issues.

It's important to note participating countries already have a spaghetti bowl
of overlapping FTAs and BITs.*

3) Countries

The 8 countries are Vietnam, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, the US,
Singapore, Chile, and Peru.  

*The US already has FTAs cutting out tariffs with 4 of these countries
(Australia, Chile, Peru) making up 86% of the total population of TPP
countries.  In other words, this agreement only gets us another 14%, and is
not the solution for "creating new exports".

If President Obama wants to double exports as promised, he will need to
focus on issues concerning trade with China, because the TPP won't get it
done.

Two countries, Vietnam and Brunei, do not have democratic forms of
government.  Why are we extending trade access to countries that refuse to
give their people the most basic rights of self-determination and voting
rights?

There is talk of adding as many as 20 countries in the future, including
Russia, Canada, Malaysia, China, Japan and South Korea.

4) TPP Process (not "agreement')

We should refer to it as the TPP process or negotiation (not an agreement),
as there is no agreement yet.

TPP talks are expected to have four rounds of negotiation in 2010.
Australia is the first, with the next round scheduled for June in the US.
There will also be a meeting set for November 2011 in Hawaii.

The Administration will need to devise a formula to get a majority of
democrats in congress to support the TPP. It will be a severe liability to
pass this using a majority of republicans, or a minority of democrats

At some point, they will require a vote.  This will be the leverage point
for organizing.

Some US sectors that will be adversely impacted include dairy, stone fruits,
lamb, beef, catfish, shrimp and sugar.

It is important that we hold the USTR accountable for whom they are
consulting with. We also need to track over time whether there is change we
can believe in, or more of the same.

Links

Updated background on the TPP <http://www.citizenstrade.org/tpp.php>  can be
found at http://www.citizenstrade.org/tpp.php 

Executive Committee of Citizens Trade Campaign

Document: USTR-2009-0041-0051
<http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocumentDetail&d=
USTR-2009-0041-0051> 

National Farmers Union

Document: USTR-2009-0041-0011
<http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocumentDetail&d=
USTR-2009-0041-0011> 

President Hoffa, Int. Brotherhood of Teamsters

Teamsters
<http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hoffa-says-teamsters-will-support-t
rade-pact-that-protects-workers-82633727.html>  Will Support Trade Pact That
Protects Workers

Public Citizen's Detailed Comments

Global <http://www.citizen.org/documents/PublicCitizenTPPComments012510.pdf>
Trade Watch on the TPP Trade Agreement

350+ <http://www.citizenstrade.org/pdf/Kirk_Letter_final.pdf>  groups to
USTR on how to structure a new TPP 

March 18th, 2009

Future Calls

If you join us on future briefing calls covering items like China currency
manipulation, procurement, national security or election briefings, Please
RSVP to agussert at citizenstrade.org in advance.  We reserved 75 lines for 62
people, but didn't have enough lines.

Also, on future calls, please hit star six (*6) when you get on the call to
mute background noise.

If you have feedback, or suggestions for future calls, please let us know.

Andrew Gussert
Director, Citizens Trade Campaign
1150  17th  Street N.W., Suite 300
Washington, D.C.  20036

Cell#:  202.494.8826
Fax#:  202.293.5308
www.citizenstrade.org

facebook.com/gussert
twitter.com/agussert

To receive regular trade updates,
<http://www.citizenstrade.org/mailman/listinfo/ctcfield> click here.

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