[CTC] More statements on ITC report

Wed May 18 17:25:12 PDT 2016

From CWA, IATP and RCALF...

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 18, 2016
CONTACT:  Candice Johnson at cjohnson at cwa-union.org <mailto:cjohnson at cwa-union.org> and 202-434-1168 <tel:202-434-1168>

CWA: ITC Report Shows 
That TPP Fails American Workers

Washington – Today’s release of the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) report on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) demonstrates that the TPP would not deliver the economic benefits promised by the U.S. Trade Representative. Instead, the report shows that the deal would be disastrous, increasing the U.S. trade deficit by over $21 billion per year and harming employment in key industries.

Most alarmingly, the ITC report projects that the TPP would increase the U.S. trade deficit in both manufacturing and the services sector. According to the report, once fully implemented, the TPP would decrease manufacturing output by over $11 billion per year and would decrease U.S. employment in manufacturing by 0.2%.  The report also highlights concerns that the TPP would put call center jobs at particular risk of being offshored. 

The weak economic projections in the ITC report are especially notable given that ITC’s track record is one of being overly optimistic <http://www.citizen.org/documents/USITC-TPP-Prebuttal.pdf> about the effects of free trade deals on American workers and our economy. The ITC report also does not include the employment impact of currency manipulation, a recurring problem in several TPP countries that is not addressed in the TPP, which would result in even more alarming projections if properly accounted for.
According to Shane Larson, Legislative Director of the Communications Workers of America (CWA):

“The ITC has a long history of being overly optimistic about our trade deals. Yet, even the ITC's rosy projection paints a picture of the TPP that would be bad for American workers.  Across the electorate and throughout the country, the public is coming out strongly against the TPP and for good reason. The TPP was based on a trade model that has led to lost manufacturing jobs, lower wages, and increased trade deficits. It's no surprise that those outcomes are what the TPP will deliver.

We can now add the weak economic projections in the ITC report – particularly the assessment that TPP would further harm American manufacturing and that its enactment would increase the trade deficit - to the mounting examples of failed promises on jobs, wages and worker rights that were used to sell past trade deals. The American public has made clear its overwhelming opposition to the TPP and the approach to trade it embodies, and now this report makes it even more clear why lawmakers of both parties should stand with the American people and loudly oppose the TPP.”

May 18, 2016

USITC ignores TPP food safety costs, overstates benefits for farmers

Contact: Steve Suppan, 952-465-4355, ssuppan at iatp.org <mailto:ssuppan at iatp.org> 

The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) has published its assessment of the potential impacts of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) on the U.S. economy and on the “interests of U.S. consumers,” as required by the Trade Priorities Act. Judging by the agricultural trade deficits of past Free Trade Agreements, the USITC  projections of the agreement’s impact on U.S. agriculture exports and imports are likely optimistic. Despite the best efforts of the USITC, it is questionable whether the report analyzes adequately the costs of trade that affect the interests of U.S. consumers. 

Steve Suppan, Senior Policy Analyst at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) contributed written comments <http://www.iatp.org/documents/investigation-no-tpa%E2%80%90105%E2%80%90001trans%E2%80%90pacific-partnership-agreement-likely-impact-on-the-us-ec> and was interviewed by the USITC in preparation for the report. He had urged the Commission “to use current methodologies for evaluating the agri-environmental, social and labor cost impacts of trade liberalization in the TPP.  We urge the Commission not to externalize TPP agriculture input and food trade-related costs, particularly in sectors such as dairy, where imports are redundant to the huge surplus in U.S. and global dairy production.”

Commenting on the new report, he said, “Even when U.S. agricultural exports do increase, that does not translate to prosperity to farmers and ranchers. Instead, they depend on Farm Bill subsidies to survive.” 

“The projections also downplay the broader consumer impacts of increasing food imports,” Suppan added. “The combination of rising imports and appallingly low FDA food inspection rates could result in increased foodborne illness. The Centers for Disease Control identified imported foods as the source of 18 of 120 foodborne illness outbreaks in 2015, but also estimated that only three percent of U.S. food-borne illness was reported to authorities, usually that which required hospitalization.” 

“Given the very low percentage of foodborne illness that is reported, and the estimated $93.2 billion annual cost of U.S. foodborne-illness health-related costs, weakening food inspection and testing intensity to expedite imports under the TPP is not in the interest of U.S. consumers. Furthermore, importers of contaminated food face lawsuits, loss of business and reputational risk.”

“TPP will compound the problem of low inspection rates by adding new mechanisms to allow companies to challenge inspectors’ decisions – and to insist that they do so quickly. New food safety rules that Congress or state governments might propose could be challenged as trade barriers or subject to investor-state dispute settlement.”

Because the TPP is at least as much about subordinating consumer protections to expediting trade, the USITC must analyze in greater detail the capacity of U.S. federal agencies to ensure that trade takes place safely.

More analysis on how the TPP will affect our food and farming system can be found at: iatp.org <http://iatp.org/>.

R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America
"Fighting for the U.S.Cattle Producer"
For Immediate Release
May 18, 2016 
USITC Report Predicts Exceedingly Small Benefits for U.S. Beef Packers While Failing to Address Impacts to the U.S. Cattle Supply Chain

Billings, Mont. - Today the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) issued findings from its investigation into the likely impacts the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement will have on the U.S. economy and on specific industry sectors (the report <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001gQea_nlCoT0Q-TE6nlIy2zRqq2hiAqZ1VwZy1NtQK4Ea8OwTWUmDjaFC85ESfnjaOLrwVgfT0oQ50f6NPmYccm8k7EQyx91QqPZhimMrNqhl9Zc8w6bLIVqWnO8kfRFysoWXvzs0mqzZAKdRTnnG0ZU7QkMpUDZo8f5HQlz8qNr9NTrWxoxn_oxGlEsYY0P0XcGO1Q9ort7F27SqBq1-o8oeV65mzq3Mk-MCjmEPHjb_4KtUNTZt-Cc0gYwewzCd8W2ovbnH9bVFjNMTxHM38owoVbgWqw8d2Gong82J12Anqk_GZK61Jx-qKhI5AHUDN9TKDAfPJoGgaisO1d-jv2YXGS2gimF1xoJYkOF3jlHfXGITxmGTh4eqOymVlX1iQcmtyh_N6dnizl36XIGEDLYMo8wayfO6ikJqfORxpaUF94EFri855E5kPN0SH4ATY0S5zQxtBscx6qadwgbhkTlx5UYb0L282IStfQVFwv2qD_jOzeonpw==&c=3YHWiGgiRLXVKfC8Lxcugbr3XEsRYkWa3Qq5esBwePtGbpNsTfBgmA==&ch=IWDsDlLEHSEWPZq5DHEdk-Ggoc9Sn44p74eeP_OLGp70BhEp__Lwbg==>). R-CALF USA actively participated in the USITC's investigation by submitting written briefs and delivering oral testimony during the USITC's hearing held in January. R-CALF USA was the only witness representing the U.S. cattle and sheep industries that opposed the proposed pact. 

The report estimates that net exports of beef by year 15 of the pact will be only $457.1 million more than if the TPP was not implemented, with most of the increase attributable to Japan. Using data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard put this amount into perspective by explaining that the 2015 retail value of beef produced by a choice steer was $3,144.50, and it would take only 145,365 animals to produce the beef needed to achieve this estimated increase.

"This means that even under the USITC's overly optimistic estimate, the best our industry can hope for is that in 15 years we will market barely over one day's kill in additional cattle given that the U.S. is presently slaughtering approximately 120,000 cattle per day in U.S. slaughtering plants.

"This exceedingly small economic benefit does not outweigh the huge concessions our industry will be forced to make if the TPP is passed," Bullard said.
Bullard said the report fails to address the impact that the TPP will have on the U.S. cattle supply chain comprised of the nation's 729,000 remaining farmers and ranchers that raise and sell cattle. Instead, he said the report assumes that the small increase in net beef exports will trickle down to cattle producers.  

According to Bullard there is no justification for this assumption because the TPP grants multinational meatpackers their wish for lower cattle prices by destroying the competitiveness of U.S. cattle producers, prohibiting marketing claims that suggest U.S.-produced beef is safer and more wholesome, and eliminating the competitive forces that drive the U.S. cattle cycle.

"This is a corporate give-away," said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard adding, "The TPP allows multinational packers to use a "Product of the USA" label on cattle sourced from anywhere in the world, which effectively ends all competition between U.S. cattle producers and their foreign competitors.

"The sanitary and phytosanitary measures contained in the pact ensure the U.S. cattle industry cannot make marketing claims that U.S. beef is safer and more wholesome without being subjected to costly and protracted World Trade Organization (WTO) complaints. This will have a chilling effect on the U.S. cattle industry's ability to compete with imports in the domestic market.

"To top it off, because the pact allows USA labels on beef from animals sourced anywhere in the world, multinational meatpackers can put an end to our competitive U.S. cattle cycle simply by sourcing cattle from other countries whenever they believe domestic cattle prices are too high or domestic cattle supplies too tight.  

"Like NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), the TPP will help multinational meatpackers capture even more control of the U.S. live cattle supply chain away from independent U.S. farmers and ranchers, relegating them to nothing more than a cog in the big meatpackers' global supply chain," Bullard concluded.

# # #

R-CALF USA (Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America) is the largest producer-only cattle trade association in the United States. It is a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle industry. For more information, visit www.r-calfusa.com <http://www.r-calfusa.com/> or, call 406-252-2516.  
Please consider sharing this with your local paper and/or radio station.
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