Significant TPP Progress Still Needed on Environment Rules, Says Rep. Levin
Members of Trans-Pacific Partnership talks haven’t yet reached consensus on environmental rules, and failure to strike a deal on tough, enforceable standards will make regulation among TPP parties “more difficult to strengthen in the future,” said House Ways and Means ranking member Sandy Levin, D-Mich., in a March 31 blog (here). The TPP negotiations need to make real progress to tackle illegal logging in Peru, and illicit fishing in Malaysia and Singapore, among other areas, said Levin.
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Now is the time to push environmental standards because the U.S. will lose its leverage once it agrees on tariff reduction, said Levin. “After the U.S. lowers its tariffs, the country will no longer hold the leverage it does at this moment to bring about lasting change far above the status quo,” said Levin. He again pushed for rules outlined in the May 10 Agreement (see 1503190001).
The U.S. shouldn’t repeat NAFTA's lack of environmental rules in the main text, said Levin. NAFTA environmental disputes aren’t subject to the dispute settlement and, therefore, fall short of meeting an acceptable level of enforceability, he said. Levin cried foul after a recent independent NAFTA tribunal gave a victory to a U.S. company in a environmental permit dispute with Canada (see 1503300013).