The Seattle City Council voted to take a stand against Trade Promotion Authority, also known as fast-track, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership on March 30. A council statement criticized "closed-door" TPP negotiations, and said the TPP investment chapter would subject Seattle laws to independent tribunals. "I oppose fast-track for the TPP because Seattle has some of the highest environmental and labor standards in the country, and it is critical that multinational corporations do not have the power to undermine our laws or values," said Councilmember Mike O'Brien in the council statement (here). Federal lawmakers have also warned against investor-state dispute settlement threats to local regulations (see 1503300013). The Seattle resolution wouldn't impact TPP implementation. The Washington Council on International Trade criticized the vote in a statement (here).
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is leading a congressional delegation, comprised of several Democrats and one Republican, to Trans-Pacific Partnership countries Vietnam, South Korea and Japan, as well as Cambodia and Myanmar. The trip will focus on increasing “fair trade” and boosting security alliances and human rights, Pelosi’s office said on March 28 (here). “Members are particularly interested in gaining further understanding of how the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement that is currently being negotiated will impact the region’s markets and economies,” said Pelosi. The House starts a week-long recess this week. Democrats Sandy Levin, Mich., and Charlie Rangel, N.Y., are among the 10 lawmakers on the delegation. Levin has called for more transparency and reformed rules in TPP negotiations (see 1503230078). Pelosi hasn’t committed to opposing or supporting the deal.
The investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) model in U.S. free trade agreements is "unacceptable," and a recent case decided in a NAFTA investor tribunal shows the "system is in need of serious reforms," said House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Sandy Levin, D-Mich., in a March 27 blog post (here). ISDS judges in recent days awarded Delaware-based Bilcon a victory in a case against the Canadian government over Canada's decision to "deny an environmental permit to establish a rock quarry in Nova Scotia," said Levin in the blog. WikiLeaks released the confidential Trans-Pacific Partnership investment text on March 25 (see 1503260017). While the chapter emphasizes the focus on ensuring non-discriminatory treatment, Levin said U.S. negotiators haven't yet clarified the minimum standard of treatment language in the text. "Bilcon and other recent ISDS disputes vividly demonstrate the need to do so," said Levin. "The Bilcon case should therefore serve as a wake-up call. U.S. negotiators in TPP should propose that the TPP investment chapter be amended in a manner consistent with what the U.S. Government has argued in ISDS cases – but that the most recent NAFTA tribunal has rejected."
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will address the U.S. Congress on April 29, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a statement (here). Abe will speak on “free trade,” the statement said. The U.S. and Japan still haven’t publicly reached agreement on agriculture and auto market access arrangements in Trans-Pacific Partnership talks, although some observers say TPP negotiations are nearly complete. President Barack Obama is hosting Abe at the White House on April 28 (see 1503230011).
The inclusion of currency rules in free trade agreements would be harmful to the U.S. trade agenda, and the Treasury Department should instead continue to tackle currency manipulation through diplomacy, said ten former secretaries of the Department of Commerce in a recent letter to Congress (here). The former secretaries also shot down legislative attempts to address currency manipulation through countervailing duty law, as proposed in two bills introduced in the Senate and House of Representatives in February (see 1502120014). "While we recognize the negative impact that the undervaluation of foreign currency has on American businesses, we believe that currency issues would be more effectively addressed by the Department of Treasury through continued intensive dialogue and bilateral engagement," said the letter. The secretaries also pushed for Trade Promotion Authority, saying pending trade pacts provide a platform for boosting U.S. exports.
Lawmakers introduced the following trade-related bills since International Trade Today's last legislative update:
The current Trade Promotion Authority model allows the administration to negotiate trade deals unilaterally and in secret, while muscling implementation bills through the body with “preferential and expedited treatment,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in a March 25 letter to senators. Trumka flatly rejected the basic principles of TPA and called U.S. trade policy “corporate entitlement.” The network of unions recently cut off campaign funding indefinitely for this election cycle (see 1503110027).
The U.S. needs to push harder to ensure the Trans-Pacific Partnership includes rules to scale back corruption and rights abuses in several TPP negotiating parties, said Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., at an event to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-Australia free trade agreement. Cardin pointed to restricted freedoms in Vietnam, Malaysian human trafficking operations and attacks against the LGBT community in Brunei. Many trade critics also point to labor rights abuses in Mexico (see 1502260056).
Lawmakers introduced the following trade-related bills since International Trade Today's last legislative update:
All other Trans-Pacific Partnership countries should change domestic laws to meet TPP labor standards before the Obama administration sends a TPP implementation bill to Congress, said House Ways and Means ranking member Sandy Levin, D-Mich., in the latest blog post in his ongoing series on TPP (here). TPP countries should also pull together panels of experts to monitor the implementation of the labor provisions, he said.