[CTC] Businesses "Raring to Go" on TPP; Zients Bullish on TPP Vote this Year

[Arthur Stamoulis]

PoliticoPro Morning Trade
By Adam Behsudi | 04/11/2016 10:00 AM EDT

With help from Victoria Guida and Doug Palmer

PRITZKER: BUSINESSES 'RARING TO GO' ON TPP: The escalating anti-trade rhetoric emerging from the presidential election isn't striking any fear in the heart of President Barack Obama or decreasing his willingness to send the TPP to Congress for approval, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said in an interview with Pro Trade's Doug Palmer.

"This president is not intimidated and he's not afraid to act here," she said. "We have a process we have to go through first. We reviewed the process this week, so we could understand all the steps. This president is fully committed to TPP, as is our administration and, frankly, as is the business community."

Pritzker said she met with the CEOs and former CEOs of Caterpillar, Boeing and the Campbell Soup Company in recent days to talk about "the efforts their companies are going to make" as well as the efforts of the Business Roundtable, which Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman chairs. She added that businesses are "raring to go" when it comes to pushing for TPP approval in Congress. Check back to Pro Trade later today for the full interview.

ZIENTS BULLISH ON TPP VOTE THIS YEAR: National Economic Council Director Jeff Zients argued forcefully on Friday for Congress to approve TPP. In a speech at the Export-Import Bank's annual conference, Zients said there would be an opportunity to vote on the pact this year, pointing to the unusual path to passage for the trade promotion authority bill over the summer.

"I know trade is all over the news these days, and there's a lot of empty rhetoric when it comes to TPP," Zients said. "But those major pieces of legislation take a non-linear path toward passage."

"So I am very confident that there will be an opportunity to get TPP done this year, and we've got to do everything we can to get it done because, if we don't, there's no guarantee when we'll have our next shot," he said, arguing the trade deal matters to U.S. workers and businesses. "I can assure you it matters to this president, which is why he will be doing everything he can to get TPP done."

ADMINISTRATION MAKES A TPP PHARMA SALES PITCH: The Obama administration is continuing its work of trying to convince Capitol Hill of the benefits of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, sending a memo that explains every provision in the deal that will benefit the pharmaceutical industry. The White House has faced headwinds from Congress on the deal as Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch and other lawmakers have taken issue with provisions that allow for less than 12 years of data protection for biological drugs.

The memo doesn't describe how the administration plans to address congressional concerns over biologics but does attempt to provide a broad view of how the deal is a net benefit for the industry by including mandatory patent procedure rules, new market access and transparency requirements for national healthcare systems. 

The memo, which sources said was sent to lawmakers' offices on Friday, also includes a paper from the Peterson Institute and an article from industry newsletter BioCentury defending the deal as good compromise and one that addresses industry concern
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