[CTC] President Obama, others, are pushing the TPP hard

Fri Apr 22 07:02:33 PDT 2016

Lest anyone think we’ve already won the TPP fight this year… President Obama is now personally signing op-eds in support of the TPP, and The Nature Conservancy published one in support of the TPP for Earth Day as well.

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826

Obama: How TPP levels the playing field for NC workers
News and Observer
By Barack Obama
April 21, 2016
http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article73146597.html <http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article73146597.html>

Over the past seven years, we have helped middle-class families start to reclaim their economic security by restoring the basic values that made our country great – including the idea that everyone should play by the same rules.

That principle matters in farm states and factory towns across America, but it doesn’t stop at our shores. We also have to enforce a level playing field in the global economy. Just as we’ve worked to ensure we don’t have one set of rules for Wall Street and another for Main Street, my administration has built an unprecedented record of holding trading partners accountable and fighting back when they try to rip us off. Last week marked another such victory for workers in North Carolina.

We exposed a Chinese government scheme to subsidize seven industries – including textiles, apparel and medical products – that compete directly with American workers and businesses. The program let Chinese businesses unfairly flood the world market with their exports at our expense.

My administration brought the results of our intensive investigation to the World Trade Organization – the 20th such enforcement case we’ve pursued since I took office and our 11th against China. In fact, during my time in office America has brought more cases than any other country, and we’ve won every case that has been decided.

The result this time is yet another win for America: China’s efforts to take advantage of our workers under this program have been shut down, and we’re monitoring closely to make sure it stays that way.

This victory has real consequences for North Carolina workers and businesses. That’s because in the investigation that led to this case, we found that China was unfairly supporting the textiles that directly compete with working men and women in North Carolina. These subsidies undermined fair competition, threatened to affect global prices and hurt North Carolinians who rely on textiles to provide for their families. Stopping this scheme is a significant step toward helping our textiles industry compete and win on a level global playing field.

Because trade is a pillar of middle-class economics, holding our trading partners’ feet to the fire has been a priority. In fact, no country has done more to hold its trading partners accountable. That’s how we make sure Americans get all the benefits we’ve negotiated under our trade agreements. It’s why in recent weeks we’ve pursued enforcement actions that have opened up South Africa to American beef, poultry and pork; successfully challenged unfair subsidies in India that undercut our solar industry; are taking steps to address illegal logging in Peru; strengthened intellectual property rights protections in Honduras; and worked with Colombia to agree to strengthen its worker-protection laws. And it’s why in February I signed into law a customs and trade enforcement bill that gives us even more new tools to investigate and prosecute those who violate our trade agreements.

One of the best ways to enforce the idea that everyone should play by the same rules in global trade is by setting better rules in the first place. That’s why we’ve made sure the Trans-Pacific Partnership would help Americans sell to the world more of what we make here at home by establishing the highest standards of any trade agreement, including strong, fully enforceable intellectual property, labor and environmental protections. The result is an agreement that advances both our interests and our values in one of the world’s fastest-growing regions. TPP makes sure our products aren’t the only things stamped “Made in the USA” – the world’s trade standards should be set here, too.

In an increasingly competitive world, our competitors will lead if we sit on the sidelines. In fact, right now China is moving full steam ahead to create its own trade deal for the region that would cut the United States out of key markets and exclude the high standards we put in the TPP. That would undercut American workers and American businesses.

We have the best workers in the world, the most innovative companies and the best products. Because of our commitment to holding our trading partners accountable, America won again last week. With open markets, a level playing field and the strong enforcement TPP promises, Americans will continue to win for years to come.

Leveraging TPP to Raise Environmental Standards Across the Globe
Huffington Post
By Glenn Prickett of The Nature Conservancy
April 21, 2016
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glenn-prickett/leveraging-tpp-to-raise-environmental-standards_b_9729100.html <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glenn-prickett/leveraging-tpp-to-raise-environmental-standards_b_9729100.html>

Earth Day was established in the U.S. in response to a horrific oil spill in California, with the goal of raising public awareness on the issues of air and water pollution. Today, nearly fifty years later, it is celebrated by more than a billion people in nearly every country in the world. The growth of this event signals America’s leadership in bringing environmental stewardship values to the world.

The U.S. now has a tremendous opportunity to do the same again—this time to tackle pressing issues that transcend national borders and require the cooperation of many countries. We can do this through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Much of the public conversation about the TPP has focused on its ability to open new markets for American products and to improve foreign labor conditions. But the 12-nation agreement also contains the strongest environmental standards of any trade agreement in history, raising the bar across a region representing forty percent of the world’s GDP, and countries at varying levels of economic development. And if the scale of this opportunity is not great enough already, TPP also provides a framework for other countries to join, further broadening the opportunity to improve our global environment.

How does the TPP raise environmental standards across the globe? Upon entry-into-force, all TPP countries will be required to effectively enforce their environmental laws, including laws that implement Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) addressing a range of issues, such as endangered species, wetlands, oceans and fisheries, forests and wildlife, and the ozone. The TPP includes commitments to combat illegal fishing, promote sustainable fisheries management, prohibit some of the most harmful fisheries subsidies, promote the long-term conservation of marine species, and to combat trade in illegal wildlife and timber trafficking.

And maybe even more importantly, the TPP makes all of the environmental commitments enforceable through trade sanctions—a mechanism that is not currently available to environmental organizations, watchdog groups, and progressive governments that want to hold countries accountable to sustainable development.

In short, the TPP has teeth, and for those who recognize that environmental leadership does not begin or end at our shores, this is an historic opportunity to further promote sustainable development and better protect our global ecosystem.

It may not be surprising that organizations like The Nature Conservancy would take note of this opportunity. But why are retailers so inclined? The U.S. retail industry is committed to leading on sustainability—with their trade association, RILA, backing them up with a nearly decade-long sustainability initiative—recognizing their responsibility to improve their environmental impacts both where their consumers consume and where their products are produced. TPP is a critical mechanism to bolster protections in producing countries, and finally bring those governments to the table so that they can play their role in protecting their environment.

Some argue that TPP’s environmental standards are not strong enough. For example, while the agreement calls on member governments to promote clean energy development and enhance resilience, it does not include explicit commitments to tackle climate change. While we would have welcomed stronger provisions on this key issue, the groundbreaking Paris Accord commits the same governments to ambitious action on climate change. Some are concerned that provisions for dispute settlement between member governments and private investors could undermine legitimate environmental protections. Yet similar provisions already exist in U.S. trade and investment agreements, and the TPP further tightens their application to prevent abuse. On balance, we believe the TPP moves these causes forward in the right direction and outweighs the potential risks.

And what if TPP is not ratified? Failure to seize on this historic opportunity to export our higher standards and better stewardship of our planet would cost us now and in the future. We would lose a valuable opportunity to provide stronger environmental enforcement mechanisms in the places that need them the most, and we’d risk forfeiting our environmental and economic leadership role in the fastest growing region of the world. If we give up the driver’s seat, we open the door for China, through its own trade policies in the region, to set the bar for environmental values that will shape the entire region for decades to come.

The U.S. should not abdicate this role. We should seize this moment—as we did on the first Earth Day—and proudly lead efforts to strengthen global policies dedicated to sustainable development. If enacted, TPP will serve as the precedent for future trade deals written around the world, ensuring that those deals include policies that promote sustainability and environmental protection.

As we celebrate Earth Day and contemplate the future of our planet, we urge members of the United States Congress to take these environmental benefits into account as they consider whether to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
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