Lawmakers Push Froman to Slash Barriers on Ag, Footwear Trade in TPP
House Ways and Means Committee members pressed U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman to ensure U.S. agricultural and footwear products reap the benefits of a Trans-Pacific Partnership during the committee’s Jan. 27 hearing on U.S. trade policy. Froman repeatedly said a final TPP pact will slash duties and provide other market access improvements for those products.
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Froman cautioned, however, that the U.S. is continuing to negotiate critical TPP market access terms with Canada and Mexico. USTR negotiators are focuses on duty reductions, sanitary and phytosanitary measures and geographical indications, Froman said. “We are making good progress in TPP on market access, including in dairy,” he said. “We’re not done yet. We’ve been working with Japan over the better course of a year on the issues, going line by line through dairy, which is one of their sensitive products.”
While the impasse over U.S.-Japanese agricultural negotiations is widely reported as an obstacle to wrapping up TPP negotiations, House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., railed against ongoing Canadian reluctance to remove its dairy price support programs. U.S. lobbied hard to cut that Canadian dairy program during NAFTA negotiations, but ultimately failed (see 1412080011).
Meanwhile, the National Pork Producer’s Council urged lawmakers to pass Trade Promotion Authority quickly in order to secure the best TPP deal for U.S. industry in a letter the day before the hearing (here). The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association made a similar plea (here).
Committee member Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., pressed U.S. footwear tariff elimination through TPP during the hearing and in a brief interview on the sidelines. The Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America also urged USTR to slash those import barriers in a statement after the hearing. “The TPP offers a real opportunity to help everyday Americans who purchase shoes and those who work in the U.S. footwear industry, which employs hundreds of thousands of Americans in innovation, design, distribution, retail and marketing,” said FDRA President Matt Priest (here). “There is bipartisan support and momentum for advancing the Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2015."
Many lawmakers also pushed Froman to help resolve the West Coast port contract dispute, saying the ongoing crisis is harming industries across the country. Froman also testified earlier the same day for the Senate Finance Committee (see 1501270028).