A bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority bill should appear...
A bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority bill should appear in the Senate by June, said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., at a Wednesday hearing. Baucus, who announced his retirement Monday, also called for a renewal of Trade Adjustment Assistance…
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and serious work on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. “I do intend to double down,” Baucus said, referring to the TPP, the topic of the hearing. “We're going to get this thing done.” Ranking Member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Congress has yet to see any “real commitment” by the White House to secure TPA. Congress can craft legislation on its own, he said, but a formal response from the administration sends a “strong signal” that the president is serious about trade agreements. John Thune, R-S.D., questioned whether the Obama administration is “running the risk of holding up conclusion of TPP, if they continue to delay their request for TPA.” Karan Bhatia, General Electric vice president-global government affairs and policy, testified that while TPA isn’t necessary for trade negotiations to occur, “it gets harder to get closure on the very tough issues in the absence of assurance.” If “the goal is to close [TPP] this year, then we need to get TPA and we need to get it relatively soon,” said Bhatia, a former deputy U.S. Trade Representative. On TPP, committee members and witnesses stressed familiar concerns, including Japan’s potential entry. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., called it a “country that’s spent 80 years blocking our auto industry.” Senators also repeated calls for strong intellectual property protections in the TPP, especially in biologics. Hatch said TPP should include the 12-year protection rule, which is the standard in U.S. law. The Obama administration has not thus far agreed to push that standard in the TPP. “I'm concerned the administration is more preoccupied with placating various left wing interest groups than protecting innovators and content makers that create U.S. jobs,” Hatch said. David Hirschmann, president of the Global Intellectual Property Center at the Chamber of Commerce, testified that ensuring the 12-year standard in the TPP is necessary for the agreement to be approved in Congress. “U.S. negotiators should always start at the minimum in U.S. law,” he said. Strong intellectual property protections within the TPP are also important, since the agreement will likely influence the future of trade, he said. Countries like China and India are “watching to see what we do here,” he said. “So it’s good offense, but it’s also good defense.” TPP needs The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement strong intellectual protections without carveouts, Hirschmann also said (WID April 25 p8).