[CTC] Obama Administration Committed to Fast-Track Trade Authority

[Mark Harrison]

CQ NEWS - POLICY
March 14, 2013 - 5:18 p.m.
Democrats Call for Excluding Japan From Asia Free-Trade Talks
By Jonathan Broder, CQ Roll Call

Dozens of Democrats in the House and Senate on Thursday lacerated Japan over long-standing barriers that have kept U.S. cars out of the Japanese market, warning that a slowly recovering American auto industry would suffer even more economic pain if Tokyo is allowed to join an Asia-Pacific free-trade agreement.

In a letter to President Barack Obama<http://www.cq.com/person/7612>, 35 Democratic House members, many of them members of the Ways and Means Committee, and eight senators, including Michigan's Carl Levin<http://www.cq.com/person/256> and Debbie Stabenow<http://www.cq.com/person/247>, noted that Japan's web of regulations that effectively blocks U.S. automakers from selling their cars and trucks in Japan is too deeply rooted to be resolved by the trade agreement, known as the Trans Pacific Partnership (TTP), an initiative launched by Obama in 2010.

"These long-standing, economically harmful practices are not susceptible to cursory negotiation at this stage, three years into the U.S. involvement in the TPP negotiations and close to the administration's target date of concluding talks by the end of this year," the letter said.

The negotiations to liberalize the economies of the Asia-Pacific region include the United States, Vietnam, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru and Singapore.

During his visit to Washington last month, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe signaled his interest in joining the negotiations.
Unfair Advantage Claimed

If Japan joins the free trade pact before what the lawmakers called "the necessary transformation of the Japanese market," it would win the elimination of a 2.5 percent tariff on Japanese cars and a 25 percent tariff on Japanese trucks sold in the United States, further undercutting American car companies.

This "would be a major benefit to Japan without any gain for a vital American industry, leading to more Japanese imports, less American production, and fewer American jobs," the lawmakers wrote.

They also warned that Japan's participation in the TPP could have an adverse impact on the U.S. trade deficit.

The United States already has its second largest trade imbalance with Japan after China, clocking in at $76.3 billion for 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Last year, automotive products accounted for more than two-thirds of the deficit.

"These deficits are long-standing and growing," the letter said, noting that 20 years ago, the U.S. automotive trade deficit with Japan was $31 billion. In 2012, it was $53.5 billion.

"The United States and Japan are, and will remain, close and important allies," the lawmakers said. But "a flawed, one-way trade agreement that benefits Japan at the expense of the United States businesses and workers will not help strengthen this vital relationship."


Mark W. Harrison
Director, Peace with Justice Program
United Methodist General Board of Church and Society

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.citizenstrade.org/pipermail/ctcfield-citizenstrade.org/attachments/20130314/74701230/attachment-0003.htm>