Tag: TPP

Elections 2016, Trans Pacific Partnership, TTIP: Trade Talk 7-13 November 2016

meting trade globe Trans Pacific PartnershipDonald Trump won the U.S. presidential election against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on 8 November in what many are describing as an upset. President-Elect Trump’s transition team is now tasked with vetting possible Cabinet officials and lower-level appointees, receiving background briefings from the Obama Administration, and crafting policy proposals based on his campaign promises.  President-Elect Trump will be sworn-in as the 45th President of the United States on 20 January.

TPP – No-Go.  President-Elect Trump remains opposed to the TPP agreement in its current form, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle continue to express concerns with certain issues in the final deal that reportedly have not yet been addressed by the Obama Administration. Ongoing concerns with the TPP deal include longer intellectual property protections for biologic drugs and concerns with the tobacco industry’s carve-out from the deal’s investor-state dispute resolution mechanism. Shortly after the elections, Republican Congressional leaders in both chambers issued statements indicating the deal will not be brought up for a vote before the end of 2016 and must be revisited after President-Elect Trump takes office. According to a draft 100-day plan leaked by Politico, Trump advisors are proposing the U.S. withdraw from the deal soon after Trump takes office – however, other TPP countries are likely to keep advocating for the deal with the next Administration.

TTIP – On Hold.  With the uncertainty surrounding President-Elect Trump’s trade priorities, European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations on 11 November:

For quite some time TTIP will be in the freezer. What happens when it’s defrosted, I think we’ll have to wait and see.”

The EU and United States are not expecting to schedule any more formal negotiating rounds this year.

JCCT Meeting Ahead.  U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman will host the 27th session of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) next week in Washington.  Vice Premier of the State Council Wang Yang will lead the Chinese delegation.  U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is also expected to join the JCCT meeting to address bilateral agricultural trade issues.  President-Elect Trump made it clear during the campaign that China’s perceived unfair trade practices will be addressed in his Administration, including labeling the country as a currency manipulator.

ARTICLE BY International Trade Practice at Squire Patton Boggs

© Copyright 2016 Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP

White House Announces Long-Awaited Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement

The Obama administration released the full text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, on November 5, kicking off a 90-day window for congressional review.

The TPP would arguably be the largest free trade agreement in history when considering the economies of the 12 Pacific Rim member countries, covering approximately 40% of the global economy. The agreement must now be individually approved by each of the 12 countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam.

If ratified, the TPP will be one of President Obama’s crowning achievements. Obama has championed the landmark agreement as a vehicle for opening new markets to American products and establishing higher labor and environmental standards, while building an economic bloc in the Asia-Pacific region to compete with China. (See the White House Fact Sheet here.)

Obama now has an uphill climb as he launches a major public relations campaign to sell the agreement to the American public. The debate will be contentious, with a bitterly divided Congress voting on the final agreement in early 2016 – well into the election year as presidential primary elections are taking place.

Under pressure from labor unions to oppose the deal, Democrats have largely withheld support. In early October, former Secretary of State, and current presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton came out against the deal which she once called the “gold standard” of trade agreements. Last spring, Obama relied on Republicans in Congress to pass the underlying fast-track trade authority bill, with only 28 Democrats in the House voting in favor of passage. Under fast-track authority, Congress can approve or reject the agreement, but not amend it.

Note: The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) posted the agreement in roughly two hundred separate PDF documents. The Washington Post promptly published a search function on their website for easier searching.

Article By Michelle A. Leeds of Foley & Lardner LLP

© 2015 Foley & Lardner LLP