[CTC] Business Coalition Urges Congress To Subject TPP Deal To Close Scrutiny

[Arthur Stamoulis]

INSIDE US TRADE
Business Coalition Urges Congress To Subject TPP Deal To Close Scrutiny
Posted: November 05, 2015

Following the release of the nearly final text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the U.S. Coalition for TPP on Thursday (Nov. 5) urged members of Congress to examine the text closely to ensure it opens markets of the Asia-Pacific region and effectively tackles the challenges and barriers prevailing in the global economy now.

In a letter sent to lawmakers Thursday morning, the business coalition also urged members to "hear directly" from business representatives, workers and the public on how they evaluate the deal.

"The final agreement is worthy of serious review and understanding," the group said. "If it meets our high expectations, it has tremendous potential to help improve America's competitiveness and create a more level playing field for our industries and workers."
"We respectfully ask that you review the agreement's text in full and hear directly from workers, families and job creators in your states and districts about their views of the negotiated agreement," the letter added. "An economic agreement covering 40 percent of the world's GDP deserves nothing less.”

The letter stopped far short of endorsing the deal and sticks to conditional statements about TPP. The go-slow approach it advocates to members of Congress is most likely a reflection that members of the coalition are divided on the final deal, sources said.

The TPP Coalition represents companies and associations across a broad spectrum, including agriculture, manufacturing, information and communications technology, merchandising, processing, retailing and services, according to the letter.

Separate from its letter to members of Congress, the Coalition for TPP issued a public statement that is less detailed, but makes the same point that the text needs to be closely scrutinized.

"While it will take some time to examine and absorb the agreement, the U.S. Coalition for TPP is encouraged to see many chapters that address trade barriers and the type of rules that are important to create a level playing field and advance American competitiveness in the 21st century," the statement said." The final agreement is worthy of serious review.”

Separately, Cal Cohen, the president of the Emergency Committee for American Trade (ECAT), which is the secretariat for the coalition, said that members of the business community are giving "a very careful read to the text and hope to be able to indicate their positions within the next few weeks.”

By taking a wait-and-see attitude, the coalition and other associations facing a similarly divided membership have time to try to fix their problems. This could include trying to appease the opponents by either getting marginal improvements in TPP through side letters or getting the administration to address some other priority these companies have, sources said.

Businesses that have taken the most critical view of the TPP deal as negotiated include brand-name pharmaceutical companies unhappy with the terms of the market exclusivity for biologic drugs, tobacco companies opposing the carveout of anti-tobacco regulations from the investor-state dispute settlement, and the Ford Motor Company, which opposes the deal in the absence of enforceable currency provisions.

The currency issue has been addressed in a joint declaration by TPP countries on exchange rate policies that was released along with the TPP text, which future members of TPP would have to sign to participate in the trade deal.

Following the release of the currency declaration by the Treasury Department, a Ford spokeswoman said the company's opposition to the deal has not changed since the currency forum does nothing to change the status quo. "It falls outside of TPP, and it fails to include dispute settlement mechanisms to ensure global rules prohibiting currency manipulation are enforced," Ford said in a statement.

"To ensure the future competitiveness of American manufacturing, we recommend Congress not approve TPP in its current form, and we ask the Administration to renegotiate TPP and incorporate strong and enforceable currency rules," the spokeswoman said in an e-mail. "This step is critical to achieving free trade in the 21st century.”

The administration has been pushing for business endorsements of TPP, so holding off on offering them will likely increase the leverage of groups in any potential conversation with the U.S. government, sources said.

Other major business groups also offered a very measured response to the release of the text. For example, a Business Roundtable statement applauds the public release of the full text, and says the group is looking forward to reviewing the details and better understanding the benefits the deal would provide for American companies, farmers and workers.

"The TPP agreement holds the potential to expand trade and investment opportunities for countries on both sides of the Pacific Ocean," the statement said. "U.S. trade expansion, including through trade agreements like the TPP, is a key pillar of the Business Roundtable pro-growth policy agenda.”

These very carefully worded statements are the latest example of what private-sector sources said this week has been a message to Congress from some business representatives that it should go slow in handling the TPP text. -- Jutta Hennig
 

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