The U.S. Senate passed legislation Wednesday granting the Obama Administration trade promotion authority (TPA), a major step forward in the effort to negotiate and ratify the comprehensive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement currently under negotiation by 12 Pacific Rim countries.
“Passage of TPA is critical to moving forward with a strong trade policy agenda,� said Floyd Gaibler, U.S. Grains Council (USGC) director of trade policy and biotechnology.
“The TPP agreement will involve difficult choices by all the countries concerned, and several of the United States’ negotiating partners made it clear that they will not sign a final deal without an assurance that it will be voted on as a package, without being picked apart by unilateral amendments. TPA provides that assurance. Congress will have the final say on a TPP agreement, and it must be voted on, up or down, as a whole.�
Last week, opponents of TPP had scored a temporary victory by defeating trade adjustment assistance (TAA), which had been seen as a necessary precondition for passage of TPA. But, TAA was also approved this week as a seperate measure, and both bills now await the President’s signature.
TPA’s passage will smooth the way for progress on TPP, which negotiators hope to complete this summer.
“For the United States, TPP is potentially the biggest trade deal in decades,� Gaibler said. “The 12 countries that are involved account for 40 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP). A comprehensive, high-quality deal is critical for U.S. agriculture, which is a consistent leader in exports. An agricultural free trade zone encompassing much of the Pacific Rim also promises to be a powerful tool for projecting exports well beyond the circle of TPP signatories.�
TPP will be a major focus at the Council’s 55th Annual Board of Delegates Meeting, scheduled to be held in Montreal from July 27 to 29. Among other discussions, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Under Secretary Alexis Taylor will headline a panel discussion of the implications of TPP for global agricultural trade during a general session of that meeting.