<html dir="ltr">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=Windows-1252">
<style type="text/css" id="owaParaStyle"></style>
</head>
<body fpstyle="1" ocsi="0">
<div style="direction: ltr;font-family: Tahoma;color: #000000;font-size: 10pt;">
<div id="sub-navigation" class="clearfix" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); background-image: url(http://insidetrade.com/sites/all/themes/bwm/images/wto/bckgrnd_graynav.png); background-color: white; height: 38px; clear: both; font-size: 12px; overflow: hidden; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat;">
<div id="sub-navigation-inner" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;">
<div class="region region-sub-navigation" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;">
<div id="block-block-1" class="block block-block block-even block-last clearfix" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; position: relative; float: left; width: 630px;">
<div class="block-inner clearfix" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;">
<div class="block-content clearfix" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;">
<div class="content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;">
<div id="searchnav" style="margin: 0px; padding: 4px; border: 0px;">
<div class="searchleft" style="margin: 0px; padding: 10px; border: 0px;">Thursday, January 28, 2016 </div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="block-bg" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="content-container" class="clearfix" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<div id="content" style="margin: 0px -990px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; float: left; width: 990px;">
<div id="content-inner" class="inner column center" style="margin: 0px 335px 15px 0px; padding: 10px 10px 10px 20px; border: 0px; min-height: 300px; width: 600px;">
<div id="content-header" class="content-header" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;">
<div class="tabs" style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"></div>
</div>
<div id="content-area" class="content-area" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.4em;">
<div class="region region-content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;">
<div id="block-system-main" class="block block-system block-odd block-first block-last clearfix" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; position: relative;">
<div class="block-inner clearfix" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;">
<div class="block-content clearfix" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;">
<div class="content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;">
<div id="node-152263" class="node node-article node-promoted node-odd Daily News " style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; clear: both;">
<div class="node-inner" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;">
<h3 class="category" style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: rgb(204, 0, 0); font-size: 12px;">
Daily News</h3>
<h1 class="title" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: 1.833em; line-height: 26px;">
White House Calls Business To TPP Meeting; Donohue Sees Lame Duck Vote</h1>
<div class="timestamp" style="margin: 4px 0px 12px; padding: 4px 0px; border-width: 1px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192);">
January 27, 2016 </div>
<div class="body" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;">
<p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">
The Obama administration has invited major U.S. companies and business associations to the White House this Friday (Jan. 29) for a meeting on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that informed sources predicted is an effort by the administration to rally support
for early congressional passage of the agreement.</p>
<p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">
Among those invited are the co-chairs of the Trade Benefits America Coalition and the U.S. Coalition for TPP as well as roughly a dozen trade associations, sources said. </p>
<p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">
Two sources speculated that administration officials would urge business representatives to be more active in lobbying members of Congress to support quick action on the TPP. </p>
<p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">
Business representatives have <a href="http://insidetrade.com/node/152083" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: rgb(0, 102, 204);">begun a coordinated effort</a> to build support in Congress for the TPP while also pushing for improvements to
the deal, but are not yet engaged in a full-fledged lobbying push. This is in part because key Senate Republicans including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have made clear they do not want a vote on TPP prior to the November election.</p>
<p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">
One business source said the White House has become increasingly worried the TPP vote will not get done this year as it has come to the realization that these Senate Republicans are entrenched in their position. </p>
<p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">
Some U.S. business representatives including U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue are also skeptical about quick TPP action. </p>
<p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">
In a Jan. 20 interview with Bloomberg Television, Donohue said TPP will not be voted on prior to the election because Senate Republicans do not want to do anything that could jeopardize senators in close races. But he said he believed there was a 75 percent
chance that TPP would get done in the lame-duck session after the election.</p>
<p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">
“If you tried to vote [on TPP] right now, the Senate wouldn't let you do it,” he said. This is because the Republicans do not want to put three or four very important senators at risk in their re-election bid at a time when there are more Republicans than Democrats
up for re-election, according to Donohue. </p>
<p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">
“I think … it'll either happen right after the election or it'll happen in a lame-duck session, and everybody thinks that's a bad deal, we should push it now,” he said. “You can't make it go now.” </p>
<p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">
He said another reason to delay TPP consideration is to give business more time to secure votes from both Democrats and Republicans, stressing that votes on trade agreements are always close. “And remember, a trade deal, when it's all said and done, it's successful
if you win by two votes: one vote to win and one vote in case somebody dies on the way to the vote,” Donohue said.</p>
<p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">
The Chamber president said he expected Hillary Clinton would ultimately support the TPP if she becomes the Democratic nominee for president and is elected. He argued that she has publicly opposed the deal chiefly because her main challenger, Sen. Bernie Sanders
(I-VT), has also done so. “If she were to get nominated, if she were to be elected, I have a hunch that what runs in the family is you get a little practical if you ever get the job,” he said.</p>
<p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">
Donohue said there are still “two or three things that needs to be fixed” in the TPP, but that these could be dealt with either through side agreements with other countries or domestic commitments from the administration. “It can be done at home or it can be
done in agreements with other countries,” he said.</p>
<p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">
<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;">The Chamber's three main objections to TPP are what it considers an inadequate market exclusivity period </strong>for biologic drugs; the carveout of tobacco control measures from investor-state dispute
settlement; and the exclusion of the financial services sector from a general ban on government requirements that data be stored on local servers.</p>
<p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">
One industry source favoring quick action on TPP said that if some or all of these issues can be resolved to the satisfaction of U.S. companies, then business lobbyists might be able to exert sufficient pressure on Senate Republicans to change their minds about
considering the deal prior to the election. In such a situation, business groups are likely to argue that the longer TPP is delayed, the bigger the risk is that it will not come together at all, this source said.</p>
<p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">
But another industry source expressed skepticism that business groups would be willing to go against McConnell and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT), who also taken a go-slow approach on TPP. Doing so could hurt their ability to get support
from these lawmakers on other priorities in the future, this source said.</p>
<p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">
He also noted that McConnell and Hatch likely want to the administration to negotiate the TPP fixes directly with them, instead of with business groups.</p>
<p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">
But several sources said they did not see any incentive for McConnell and Hatch to cut a deal with the administration on TPP fixes in the near term when they have already made clear they do not want the trade deal to come up prior to the election.</p>
<p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">
Obama administration officials involved in the outreach to business include Elizabeth Kelley, who during the last few months left her job as assistant U.S. trade representative for private sector engagement to work for the White House; Ashley Jones, a former
aide to Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee who took over Kelley's position at USTR; and Diana Doukas, director of the White House Business Council. </p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>