It’s important that the U.S. be a “vigorous...
It’s important that the U.S. be a “vigorous competitor in the Trans-Pacific” and show China that free trade is a “better course to prosperity,” said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo. He and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, acknowledged concerns Wednesday about trans-Pacific…
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relations and the need to dispel distrust. Several questions raised during the luncheon of the Emergency Committee for American Trade addressed the lack of cooperation toward free trade from China and India. Portman said free trade would be in China’s best interests because it would modernize its economy, and that more barriers would obstruct innovation. “When China agreed to be in the [World Trade Organization] and we still have to fight for trans-shipment and intellectual property … that’s not the right way to conduct trade,” Blunt said. “The more closely we're related, the less likely people are to try and disrupt that.” Portman raised additional concerns about India’s “protectionist” intellectual property policies in discordance with WTO rules. “There’s always temptation for the short-term advantages of protectionism, but it comes back to the U.S. political system and will encourage other countries to do the same,” he said. “These violations affect all of us, and you want to make sure the rules are maintained.” Portman said he supports “fast-track” legislation. Otherwise known as Trade Promotion Authority that would expedite trade agreements through Congress and facilitate the progress of negotiations like TPP. Portman noted that this is the first administration since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s that has not had such legislation in place. “I think it’s crazy,” he said. “We won’t make any progress without it.”