White House claims progress on TPP; DeLauro happy there is no breakthrough
April 25, 2014 | 03:46 PM
A senior administration official claimed today that U.S. and Japanese officials made progress on the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during the final hours of President Barack Obama’s state visit to Japan, but offered no details to back up the statement.
“This was a very important couple of days for TPP,” the official said in a briefing aboard Air Force One as the presidential party and the press made their way to South Korea, the next stop on Obama’s four-nation Asian tour.
“We worked more or less around the clock and the president was also very deeply involved in reaching a breakthrough on the market access discussions between the U.S. and Japan,” the officials said.
“What we were able to do this week that we’ve been trying to do for some time is really identify the pathway for the resolution of the major market access issues which were agriculture and autos,” the official continued.
“And we’ve had a series of discussions and rounds with the Japanese for several weeks, back and forth, in Tokyo and in Washington, elsewhere, but with this trip and the president’s direct involvement with the prime minister pursuing the issues, talking about the importance, talking about specific issues as well as the overall importance of reaching this pathway with Japan as a key part of spurring on the momentum of the TPP talks overall. “
The official said the talks had focused on autos and six agricultural sectors — beef, pork, dairy, wheat, sugar and rice.
“In each of these areas, we took the talks to different levels, but the overall outcome was in a number of the products we were able to identify what the path is going to be towards the ultimate resolution,” the official said, adding that “there are various factors that go into market access agreement — the length of time over which a market access barrier might be reduced, which barriers are eliminated and which barriers are reduced and what the relationship is between them, how the market access is structured.”
“And we went through each one of these products and oftentimes line by line of the tariffs to determine what was the most robust outcome in terms of opening markets for U.S. exports, and to do so in a way where we could secure Japan’s agreement.”
“There were several issues on this agenda that my colleagues I’m sure will talk to, but TPP was certainly one prominent issue on the bilateral agenda,” the officials said.
“It came up at the dinner the first night. It played a prominent role in the bilat [bilateral agenda] the next morning. And the president had direct engagement with the prime minister about the importance of moving TPP ahead, the importance economically to the United States, to Japan and to the region, how it was going to drive jobs and growth in the U.S., how it’s going to support reform and revitalization in Japan and give an opportunity for the U.S. and Japan to work together to help lead — to help show leadership in the region towards the closure of an agreement around a new architecture for economic relations.”
TPP negotiators are scheduled to meet again in mid May.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., issued a news release saying she is “happy that there was no breakthrough” in the TPP negotiations.
“Here at home the majority of Americans are tired of flawed trade deals that ship jobs overseas and weaken consumer protections,” DeLauro said.
“Whether it is market access issues with Japan or any number of the other wide-ranging and seemingly unresolvable issues with the TPP nations, this agreement continues to face strong headwinds,” she said.
“There is no appetite to provide the administration with fast track authority to ram another bad trade deal through Congress at a time when we should be focused on policies that support the middle class and provide better opportunities for those striving to join the middle class.”
“This was a very important couple of days for TPP,” the official said in a briefing aboard Air Force One as the presidential party and the press made their way to South Korea, the next stop on Obama’s four-nation Asian tour.
“We worked more or less around the clock and the president was also very deeply involved in reaching a breakthrough on the market access discussions between the U.S. and Japan,” the officials said.
“What we were able to do this week that we’ve been trying to do for some time is really identify the pathway for the resolution of the major market access issues which were agriculture and autos,” the official continued.
“And we’ve had a series of discussions and rounds with the Japanese for several weeks, back and forth, in Tokyo and in Washington, elsewhere, but with this trip and the president’s direct involvement with the prime minister pursuing the issues, talking about the importance, talking about specific issues as well as the overall importance of reaching this pathway with Japan as a key part of spurring on the momentum of the TPP talks overall. “
The official said the talks had focused on autos and six agricultural sectors — beef, pork, dairy, wheat, sugar and rice.
“In each of these areas, we took the talks to different levels, but the overall outcome was in a number of the products we were able to identify what the path is going to be towards the ultimate resolution,” the official said, adding that “there are various factors that go into market access agreement — the length of time over which a market access barrier might be reduced, which barriers are eliminated and which barriers are reduced and what the relationship is between them, how the market access is structured.”
“And we went through each one of these products and oftentimes line by line of the tariffs to determine what was the most robust outcome in terms of opening markets for U.S. exports, and to do so in a way where we could secure Japan’s agreement.”
“There were several issues on this agenda that my colleagues I’m sure will talk to, but TPP was certainly one prominent issue on the bilateral agenda,” the officials said.
“It came up at the dinner the first night. It played a prominent role in the bilat [bilateral agenda] the next morning. And the president had direct engagement with the prime minister about the importance of moving TPP ahead, the importance economically to the United States, to Japan and to the region, how it was going to drive jobs and growth in the U.S., how it’s going to support reform and revitalization in Japan and give an opportunity for the U.S. and Japan to work together to help lead — to help show leadership in the region towards the closure of an agreement around a new architecture for economic relations.”
TPP negotiators are scheduled to meet again in mid May.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., issued a news release saying she is “happy that there was no breakthrough” in the TPP negotiations.
“Here at home the majority of Americans are tired of flawed trade deals that ship jobs overseas and weaken consumer protections,” DeLauro said.
“Whether it is market access issues with Japan or any number of the other wide-ranging and seemingly unresolvable issues with the TPP nations, this agreement continues to face strong headwinds,” she said.
“There is no appetite to provide the administration with fast track authority to ram another bad trade deal through Congress at a time when we should be focused on policies that support the middle class and provide better opportunities for those striving to join the middle class.”
