Obama Continues Push on Trade Following TPA Introduction
President Barack Obama again applauded the introduction of Trade Promotion Authority in remarks alongside Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on April 17. The legislation will give the U.S. the opportunity to lock down the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, and those pacts will benefit both the U.S. economy and workers, he said.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Obama pointed to expectations for increased auto exports as part of TPP. “Japan is one of the negotiators in this deal,” said Obama in the remarks (here). “Now, the last time I checked, if you drive around Washington, there are a whole bunch of Japanese cars. You go to Tokyo and count how many Chryslers and GM and Ford cars there are. So the current situation is not working for us.” Administration officials often argue free trade agreements boost U.S. exports (see 1503010005">1503010005).
Obama pointed to rules on human rights, labor and the environment in the new TPA bill, and said Democratic support for the most recent round of FTA implementation bills “didn’t divide” the party. Congress passed implementation bills for FTAs with South Korea, Colombia and Panama in 2011 with bipartisan, albeit heavily Republican, support (here). “There’s going to be a set of Democratic senators and House members who traditionally have just, on principle, opposed trade because the unions, on principle, regardless of what the provisions are, are opposed to trade,” said Obama.
Democrats in both chambers of Congress continue to voice opposition to TPA and the administration’s trade agenda (see 1504120002). Obama and Renzi both encouraged support for TTIP and called for significant progress in negotiations this year.