Mitch PerryU.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker visited Tampa Monday, ostensibly to discuss the Obama administration’s new forays into diplomatic relations with Cuba. However, she used the majority of her speech to pump up the Trans-Pacific Partnership. That’s one of the biggest international trade agreements in modern history, which President Barack Obama hopes to have negotiated before summer.
“We cannot forget or ignore the fact that 95 percent of the world’s customers live outside the United States,” Pritzker told the hundreds of people in attendance. “That is what our push for trade promotion legislation, for the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, is about: providing American businesses with a fair opportunity to sell their goods and services to consumers across the Asia Pacific and in Europe — today, tomorrow, and long into the future.”
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, is considered huge in scope. It includes 11 other countries across the Asia-Pacific, covering about 40 per cent of global output. Very little is known about it by the public. Comparisons have been made to NAFTA, the free trade agreement that the U.S., Canada and Mexico signed in 1994. It’s taken nearly seven years to negotiate.
Its backers include most Congressional Republicans, but not nearly that many Democrats. Of them, 151 sent a critical letter to Obama about the deal in 2013, specifically objecting to provisions that would allow the president fast-track authority. That would give greater power to the executive branch to negotiate the TPP, and limit the chances for Congress to question aspects of the deal.
“‘Fast Track’ is simply not appropriate for 21st century agreements and must be replaced,” those Democrats wrote back in the fall of 2013. “The United States cannot afford another trade agreement that replicates the mistakes of the past. We can and must do better.”
There has also been concerns that pact doesn’t include a chapter dealing with currency manipulation issues.
Pritzker said that there are 570 million “middle class” consumers now living in the TPP region, and that number is expected to reach 2.7 billion in 2030. She urged those in attendance to get behind supporting the deal, saying it would be cataclysmic for U.S. businesses if it doesn’t go through.
“If we fail to strike tough new trade deals, other countries will move quickly to fill the leadership void. Our nation’s global standing will suffer, and we will lose influence among critical allies,” she warned, saying that without such an agreement “our businesses and the workers they employ risk being left behind.”
Pritzker did note that labor and environmental standards are important to the Obama administration.
“In the United States, we believe there is a way to do business in the 21st century, defined by fair wages, safe workplaces, intellectual property rights, and a protected environment. American firms abide by these standards each and every day – and we can use these trade agreements to push our economic partners to meet these same high standards.” She said without such agreements to set the “rules of the road,” there is the risk of seeing a global commercial environment “dominated by weak regulations and low standards, which will only serve to help our competitors advance their interests. “
The Financial Times reported Monday that Japan’s economy minister is calling on Obama to ramp up his lobbying of Democrats to secure congressional authority for the TPP soon.
Pritzker was the keynote speaker on a forum on Cuba held at the Tampa Marriott. The event was spearheaded by U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, the Greater Tampa Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, and Tampa International Airport.
“President Obama and our team are eager for a more open relationship with Cuba’s businesses and people,” she said, segueing to Cuba at the conclusion of her 18-minute speech. “This administration has worked – and is working – hard to advance the process of formally establishing diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Cuba. We need Cuba’s leaders to do the same and to increase their cooperation with U.S. officials.”
An upcoming post will have more on the Cuba summit.
