Globalized trade and the TPP — Los Angeles Times

Windsor’s mayor feels the new Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement will have an overall benefit to the city.

Trade ministers from Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam concluded TPP negotiations on october. 5 in Atlanta. US workers and businesses need access to those markets, but our companies are falling behind.

On Monday, 12 Pacific Rim countries, with the United States and Japan being the biggest economies among them, reached a consensus on the wording and subject matter of the TPP free trade agreement. USDA photo Bob Nichols.

“What I have seen so far, the TPP agreement will benefit Wall Street banks and multinational corporations on the backs of hard-working Americans, and it will increase existing threats to our environment”, Obama’s colleague Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard said in a statement expressing her opposition. If that’s accurate and ag takes its typical share, the industry could be looking at “billions of dollars in additional opportunity” that will support farmers, ranchers and those employed by agriculture, he said.

Christine Lagarde, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, said: “The agreement is not only important because of the size, as the signatories countries account for about 40 percent of global GDP; it also pushes the frontier of trade and investment in goods and services to new areas where gains can be significant”.

China is, significantly, not included in the pact and there is hope that the agreement will help to level the playing field and counter a few of China’s influence in the region.

“Nations that are joining the TPP have political systems that have pledged to respect human rights, democracy, rule of law… and universal values”, said one Chinese commentator.

Of course, it’s a two-way street, and US tariffs on oranges, grapefruits, lemons and citrus juice from the countries in the agreement would end.

US President Barack Obama said Tuesday that he was confident he could make a case for the ambitious TPP Pacific free-trade deal as he began pressing for its ratification by Congress.

However the impact of the deal on Australia still remains unknown. News 1 in Seoul reported U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his South Korea counterpart Washington would welcome future discussions with Seoul regarding the TPP.

There has also been widespread concern in the U.S. that the deals are being fast-tracked and not receiving proper scrutiny by lawmakers. After Obama officially notifies Congress that he intends to sign the accord, that notice will give Congress 90 days to consider it.