Congress Should Ratify Trans Pacific Partnership and U.S. Leadership Role

by Gary Toebben

Last Wednesday, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman had lunch at the Chamber to discuss the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Trade Agreement that Congress will consider in 2016. Prior to the Chamber meeting, Ambassador Froman met with leaders from the motion picture industry, who are very supportive of the TPP and know how important the agreement is to growing entertainment jobs in L.A. and California.

Ambassador Froman, who grew up in Marin County, was on his way home from Asia and headed to Northern California for Thanksgiving. His team spent years negotiating the agreement with representatives of Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

During his Chamber meeting, Ambassador Froman cited dozens of examples of U.S. agricultural, industrial and intellectual products that now face a 20-30 percent tariff in other countries. Those barriers to entry would go to zero under the terms of the new agreement. That is why nearly every industry group in the U.S. recognizes the TPP as an opportunity to sell more American-made products to consumers in 11 other nations.

Besides the American jobs that this agreement will create, what is most trendsetting is the degree to which labor and environmental issues are addressed. No trade agreement in the history of the world or in the process of negotiation today has ever focused on labor and environmental issues to the extent of TPP. The TPP will set a new regulatory standard for these issues because Froman and USA negotiators were at the table. None of these new regulations on international trade will go into effect if the U.S. Congress does not ratify TPP.

The USA has a choice, whether to take a leadership role in writing the rules for global trade, or to stand by the wayside and watch other countries write the rules and trade amongst themselves. California has the largest delegation in Congress and we have more to gain from TPP than any other state. Join me in urging our members of Congress to vote “yes” on TPP in 2016.

And that's The Business Perspective.