Administration Hopeful TPP Implementation Will Occur in Early 2018
The Obama administration hopes the Trans-Pacific Partnership will be implemented by the end of January 2018, though several hurdles remain, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman told industry officials on Jan. 8 during a roundtable at CES in Las Vegas. TPP legislation must first pass the U.S. Congress, where an anti-TPP coalition recently formed, as well as several other countries’ governments, where signing the agreement into law requires more “gambles” than for this country, he said. “For a lot of countries, these obligations require them to make some sort of gamble—deal changes, changes in regulation—not so much for the United States, but we want to make sure they go through that process,” he said.
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One attendee, Audio Control CEO Alex Camara, voiced concern that China Compulsory Certification regulations are unnecessarily complex and difficult, but also expressed excitement about the prospect for more uniform regulations under TPP. Froman said Camara’s was a “very common complaint,” adding that TPP “won’t necessarily harmonize standards,” but will prevent countries from forcing industry to adopt local standards not in line with international benchmarks. The TPP “builds upon obligations these companies already have to the World Trade Organization,” Froman said. “It goes further and makes sure we can enforce their openness as far as how standards are set, the application of international standards and making sure these best practices.”
Unrelated to TPP, Froman also said the administration is taking a “whole-of-government effort,” involving the departments of Commerce, Agriculture, State, Treasury, and Transportation, and CBP, in posting information to help small- and medium-sized businesses digest how to decipher tariff lines, and learn available government resources.
While Froman touted TPP, House lawmakers are preparing for a press conference scheduled for Jan. 11 to express opposition to the agreement, just before President Barack Obama’s final scheduled State of the Union address. “[B]efore the President speaks, leaders in Congress and the coalition will show a unified front against a bad trade deal and the dangerous effects that it can have on the country,” says an announcement from the office of Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. “The Trans-Pacific Partnership is built on secret negotiations with foreign countries, including many with long histories of human rights abuses, child labor violations, sex-trafficking, environmental destruction, currency manipulation, and lax food safety standards.” The coalition comprises 13 people, including seven members of Congress, as well as industry advocacy groups and labor union leadership.
Besides the coalition, the TPP will have to make it past the scrutiny of senators such as Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who has criticized the agreement’s data protections for biologics as weak (see 1511060028).. Hatch might not allow a markup of the yet-to-be-introduced TPP implementation bill until the biologics provisions are addressed, Charles Dittrich, vice president of regional trade initiatives for the National Foreign Trade Council, said during a press briefing Jan. 7. “There are different ways to address it, and from what I’ve seen reported is that he’s open to finding a path forward,” Dittrich said. “He’s not using it as an excuse to derail anything….[Congressional negotiators] are making demands; they’re waiting for a response from the administration. I think both sides would like to get to ‘yes,’ and I think they will.”