Failure to Pass TPP Means US 'Frozen Out' of Asia-Pacific Region, Froman Says
The Obama administration is doing everything it can across all levels of federal government to maximize chances that Congress introduces and passes implementation legislation for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said Nov. 1 during the Bureau of…
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Industry and Security Update 2016 Conference on Export Controls and Policy (here). “I cannot overemphasize what’s at stake. If Congress fails to act, the United States will be effectively frozen out of the Asia-Pacific region, economically and strategically,” Froman said. “If the United States walks away from TPP, it will leave a void that China is all too happy to fill, so it can impose its values and interests throughout the region -- values and interests that are markedly different from our own.” Furthermore, an unratified TPP would also translate to lost market share in member countries of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership -- an agreement being negotiated among 16 nations stretching from Japan to India, and including China -- which would hurt U.S. jobs and companies, Froman said. Froman reiterated expected national security issues that a dormant or canceled TPP could pose by citing a quote by Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong: “If you are not prepared to deal when it comes to cars and services and agriculture, can we depend on you when it comes to security and military arrangements?”