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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:20.0pt">Free Beacon<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://freebeacon.com/issues/tpp-may-not-pass-due-to-anti-free-trade-provisions-that-lack-gop-support/">http://freebeacon.com/issues/tpp-may-not-pass-due-to-anti-free-trade-provisions-that-lack-gop-support/</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<h2 style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in">
<span style="font-size:22.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">TPP May Not Pass Due to Anti-Free Trade Provisions That Lack GOP Support<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><b><span style="font-size:13.5pt;color:#3E3D3D">Tobacco, rice, dairy provisions cause Republican dissent</span></b><b><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#3E3D3D"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><b><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#3E3D3D"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><span class="sep"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"inherit","serif";color:#3E3D3D">BY:</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"inherit","serif";color:#3E3D3D"> </span></span><span class="author"><span style="font-family:"inherit","serif";color:#3E3D3D;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in"><a href="http://freebeacon.com/author/ali-meyer/" title="View all posts by Ali Meyer"><span style="color:#ED4A18;text-decoration:none">Ali
Meyer</span></a></span></span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"inherit","serif";color:#3E3D3D">
<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit">
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D">November 3, 2015 5:00 am<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: inherit;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D">More than twenty Republican members of Congress have said that anti-free trade provisions within the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are holding them back from supporting it,
and without their support the deal may not pass.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: inherit;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D">Several of those members have sent letters to President Obama’s lead adviser on trade, Michael Froman, regarding these concerns.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white;box-sizing: inherit;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D">While TPP is intended to reduce tariffs, quotas, and trade barriers for<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/will-tobacco-kill-trans-pacific-partnership" target="_blank"><span style="color:#ED4A18;text-decoration:none">thousands</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>of
products, some Republican members of Congress are concerned about a carve-out proposal for tobacco that they say will establish a dangerous new precedent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: inherit;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D">Critics say that TPP currently allows American tobacco companies to be singled out to receive fewer protections and rights under the deal than those provided for other industries.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: inherit;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D">Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) has been outspoken about this concern, since tobacco plays a major role as the second highest agricultural export in Kentucky’s
economy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: inherit;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D">“As you work to complete Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, I ask again that you not set a new precedent for future U.S. trade negotiations by negatively carving
out a specific American agricultural commodity—in this case, tobacco,” McConnell wrote to Ambassador Froman in July.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: inherit;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D">“It is essential as you work to finalize the TPP, you allow Kentucky tobacco to realize the same economic benefits and export potential other U.S. agricultural commodities
will enjoy with a successful agreement,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white;box-sizing: inherit;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D">Other senators, including Sen. Thom<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.tillis.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/97c72a90-a40f-45e5-8b2f-b0fc6f3cb851/tillis-letter-froman.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color:#ED4A18;text-decoration:none">Tillis</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(R.,
N.C.), Sen. Richard<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.burr.senate.gov/press/releases/burrand-tillis-respond-to-administrations-partisan-tpp-tobacco-carve-out-" target="_blank"><span style="color:#ED4A18;text-decoration:none">Burr</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(R.,
N.C.) and Sen. Orrin<a href="http://utahpolicy.com/index.php/features/featured-articles/7213-press-release-hatch-warns-that-tpp-falls-woefully-short-highlights-importance-of-tpa" target="_blank"><span style="color:#ED4A18;text-decoration:none">Hatch</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(R.,
Utah), have joined McConnell expressing their concern as well.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white;box-sizing: inherit;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D">“In my conversations with other senators who would otherwise be inclined to support the TPP, I have emphasized
the dangerous, precedent setting nature of a carve out and the fact that inclusion of such a term would run counter to the explicit instructions set forth in the TPA,”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.tillis.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/97c72a90-a40f-45e5-8b2f-b0fc6f3cb851/tillis-letter-froman.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color:#ED4A18;text-decoration:none">said</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Tillis.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white;box-sizing: inherit;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D">In addition to these senators, 17 members of the House Committee on Agriculture sent a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://agriculture.house.gov/uploadedfiles/agriculture_utsr_letter_10.01.15.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color:#ED4A18;text-decoration:none">letter</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>to
Ambassador Froman echoing these concerns. While citing opposition to the tobacco carve-out, members also wrote about market access to rice and dairy products. Lawmakers want greater access to Canadian markets for dairy producers in their states, as well as
more access in Japanese markets for rice producers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white;box-sizing: inherit;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D">“We do, however, remain deeply concerned over the lack of meaningful market access in key markets for America’s
rice farmers, and we are also deeply concerned by the lack of movement and transparency with respect to meaningful new, balanced market access for our nation’s dairy farmers,” the members<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://agriculture.house.gov/uploadedfiles/agriculture_utsr_letter_10.01.15.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color:#ED4A18;text-decoration:none">wrote</span></a>.
“In our estimation, more must be done in these regards.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;background:white">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D">Without support from these GOP members, the deal may not pass.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white;box-sizing: inherit;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D">“If either the House or Senate rejects the TPP, however, the deal won’t go forward,” according to an
<a href="http://thehill.com/policy/finance/249913-mcconnell-warns-obama-against-tobacco-carveout-in-trade-deal" target="_blank">
<span style="color:#ED4A18;text-decoration:none">analysis</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>from the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em><span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"">Hill.</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Just
a handful of Republican votes against the TPP could keep it from winning a majority in the House, where most Democrats are expected to oppose it, with or without the tobacco provisions.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white;box-sizing: inherit;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D">Proponents of the carve out for tobacco include anti-tobacco campaigners who want to regulate the commodity. “Unless
nations take strong action, tobacco will kill one billion people worldwide in this century,”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/press_releases/post/2013_08_19_trade" target="_blank"><span style="color:#ED4A18;text-decoration:none">said</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>the
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “This is a missed opportunity for the United States to lead the fight against this global epidemic.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white;box-sizing: inherit;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D">But opponents of the carve-out<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/trade-tobacco-tpp" target="_blank"><span style="color:#ED4A18;text-decoration:none">say</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>it
will “undercut longstanding U.S. insistence that regulatory measures be based on evidence, including sound science, and encourage other countries to propose additional product-specific references.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: inherit;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left:0in;background:white">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#3E3D3D">“This is what happens when you make concessions to appease nanny-staters and liberals who have problems with the concept of free trade and free markets anyway,” a Republican
consultant who works on free trade issues told the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em><span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"">Washington Free Beacon</span></em>. “You end up with deals that are less free, and less politically tenable.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"">Michael F. Dolan, J.D.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"">Legislative Representative<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"">International Brotherhood of Teamsters<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"">Desk 202.624.6891<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"">Fax 202.624.8973<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"">Cell 202.437.2254<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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