Senate Democrats Push USTR to Step Up TPP Labor Reform Demands
The U.S. still has “maximum leverage” to set strict, enforceable labor standards in Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, and U.S. negotiators need to ensure TPP countries comply before TPP “benefits begin to accrue,” said more than a dozen Democratic senators in a recent letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Labor Secretary Tom Perez (here). The Obama administration should include labor standards, which must actually impact foreign law and practice, in the “base text of TPP and to require implementation and enforcement of those standards” before tariff elimination and other benefits take effect, said the letter.
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The letter's 14 signatories all voted to hold up legislative debate in the first trade showdown on the Senate floor this Congress. Despite some expectations for a wrapup of negotiations, senior TPP officials and trade experts predict Congress will have to give President Barack Obama Trade Promotion Authority before other countries will make their best offers (see 1505050019).
The May 8 letter, led by Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Ben Cardin, D-Md., pointed to poor working conditions and weak labor laws in Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Mexico. USTR should ensure Vietnamese union reform is subject to dispute settlement, and TPP should force Malaysia to make widespread changes to its labor laws and practice, said the letter. The Brunei government must also improve basic human and worker rights before the agreement takes effect, said the lawmakers. Mexico still needs to address a range of labor issues, the letter said, while arguing the U.S. will lose significant influence over TPP labor reform if improvements aren’t made before TPP is implemented.