The 12 Pacific Rim countries negotiating a major trade deal made “important progress” this week, the United States’ lead negotiator said.
The Obama administration has aggressively pursued the free-trade agreement as a way of stemming China’s influence in the region. But the effort has angered his liberal allies stateside, who accuse him of ignoring their numerous objections to the deal, which would be one of the biggest in U.S. history even though China is not included in it.
“We are not done and further work is needed, but we have made a significant step forward on some of the most challenging provisions,” U.S. Trade Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific Barbara Weisel said Tuesday in Hanoi after the conclusion of a 10-day round of talks.
The Obama administration has pushed hard for the deal, which must be ratified by Congress and would include the U.S. and Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Vietnam, Mexico, Chile, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Peru.
The partnership would lower tariffs as well as create common standards for intellectual property, labor and state-owned enterprises for the countries, which cover a region comprising 40 percent of the global GDP. The deal also would offer legal protections for people investing in TPP countries, creating common standards for applying an individual nation’s trade rules.
The White House is trying to speed negotiations along to ensure the deal gets voted on prior to the 2016 election. Obama expressed hope in July that the negotiations would be completed by November. Administration officials have said they want to get it ratified by Congress by May to keep it from becoming an issue in the presidential election.
That has upset liberal allies who have complained bitterly that the process has not been open enough and they haven’t had enough of a chance to influence it. Liberals generally have opposed free-trade deals as primarily benefiting business at the expense of labor and the environment.In May, 153 Democrats sent a letter to Obama expressing their objections. The mood hasn’t improved since then.
“This deal has been mostly negotiated behind closed doors,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. She added that opposition to the deal is building in Congress.
DeLauro hosted a forum of economists, labor activists, liberal activists and Democratic officials on Capitol Hill Wednesday. The speakers all warned that the deal had downsides ranging from harming the environment to increasing income inequality.
“There is nothing in these trade and investment agreements that even addresses the question of distribution [of wealth],” said Jeffrey Sachs, professor of health policy and management at Columbia University.
At least, he thinks that is the case. He echoed DeLauro’s point that they don’t really know what is in the agreement, which is still being negotiated. Nevertheless, Sachs said: “We have a lot of reasons for worry.”
