Obama optimistic on TPP, pushes for votes

With help from Doug Palmer

OBAMA OPTIMISTIC ON TPP, PUSHES FOR VOTES: President Barack Obama says he is “cautiously optimistic” that Congress can pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership this year and touted the benefits of increased trade yesterday to the home states of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, two of the biggest potential obstacles to getting the deal done this year.


“Governor [Gary] Herbert and I were talking about this a little bit yesterday,” Obama said at the White House in remarks to the National Governors Association, directing his initial comments on TPP to the governor of Hatch’s state. “When I visited Utah, you told me how much of Utah’s economy depends on exports and international trade. And that's true for so many of us.”

Obama acknowledged hang ups that are keeping Republican leadership from fully supporting the pact, including a tobacco provision causing heartburn in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s home state of Kentucky. Obama said he looked forward to sending implementing legislation to Congress and pushing to round up votes for the deal.

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CALIFORNIA OPPOSITION ‘INCONCEIVABLE!’: I think we should have a good healthy debate about it," Obama said. “What all of you can do to help is to talk to your congressional delegations and let them know this is really important. It is inconceivable if, for example, you are in California, that you don’t want a Trans-Pacific Partnership that ensures the gateway for commerce in the Pacific is open to California businesses and workers for decades to come. It’s inconceivable that you’d be opposed to that.”

Inconceivable or not, Pelosi and most other California Democrats voted last year against giving Obama trade promotion authority to finish the TPP. To read of Obama’s remarks, click here: http://1.usa.gov/1WF1bQV

REPUBLICAN REALITY CHECK: Despite Obama’s hopeful comments, Republican aides say they’ve seen little evidence that the administration is seriously addressing their concerns about biologics and other provisions of the agreement. One thing that might help, POLITICO Pro has been told, is for the administration to develop consistency plans to ensure countries fully implement their intellectual property commitments along the lines of what was done with Malaysia and Vietnam on the labor provisions of the deal.

Hatch, in particular, has expressed concern about the spotty record of some TPP partners, such as Chile and Canada, in fulfilling previous intellectual property commitments. The Utah Republican recently warned there were “no shortcuts” to winning approval of TPP. “We need to take the necessary time to carefully review the agreement and engage in a meaningful dialogue with the administration,” he said.

CHEMISTRY COUNCIL, FARM BUREAU LOVE TPP: On the other hand, some folks unabashedly love the mammoth 12-country agreement. American Chemistry Council President Cal Dooley sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman yesterday urging “swift congressional ratification” of TPP, and new American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall will join a call with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today to talk about the benefits of the agreement for U.S. farmers and ranchers. Read ACC’s letter here: http://politico.pro/1oyaHtO

TOO LATE FOR TTIP? U.S. and EU negotiators are huddled this week in Brussels in an effort to make progress in the long-running Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. However, the uncertain outlook for congressional approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement may make EU negotiators reluctant to give the outgoing Obama administration their best offers, Phil Levy, senior fellow on the global economy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, argues in a new blog on Foreign Policy magazine’s website.

“The TTIP negotiations have proven highly controversial in Europe,” Levy wrote. “Thus, vigorously pursuing the agreement could come at a political cost. What would be the point for them of putting forward an ambitious proposal — and getting lambasted — if everything needs to be revisited in January anyway? As with judicial nominations, President Obama has every right to fulfill the duties of his office throughout his term. He and his team can pursue trade talks, meet with counterparts, and table his own proposals. The question is how seriously these proposals will be taken.” Read the blog here: http://atfp.co/1KEY0rH

EU TARIFF OFFER COMES WITH STRINGS ATTACHED: As TTIP talks roll on in Brussels this week, a leaked document reveals just how difficult it could be for the U.S. to negotiate meaningful market access on a broad range of important agricultural goods. In its tariff offer from October, the European Union lays out a number of conditions that have to be met before it lowers duties on 274 tariff lines primarily covering meat and dairy products.

First and foremost, the EU is asking that the U.S. offer reciprocal access on all of those goods. The EU is also demanding that negotiations on geographical indications cover products other than wine and spirits, saying the U.S. must accept protections for cheeses and other products named after European places, which, for example, would prevent U.S. sales of parmigiano-reggiano made outside that region of Italy.

The EU also wants to address several wine-specific issues, such as the easing of import duties and a prohibition on marketing any wines labeled with names like Burgundy, Chablis and Champagne unless they too originate from those EU regions. The U.S. wine industry has opposed that move, arguing those names are “semi-generic” and their use is allowed under conditions established in a 2006 wine agreement. Read the full leak here from German news outlet CORRECTIV: http://bit.ly/1T2lDNM

FIN SERV GROUPS MAKE TTIP PLEA: A group of U.S. and EU financial services organizations are urging negotiators to include “full coverage” of regulatory issues in TTIP to avoid further fragmentation between the markets.

"TTIP provides a unique opportunity to create a strong structure for regulatory dialogue that would assure that regulators focus on cross-border issues as they are developing, heading off conflicts or unnecessary differences that could be avoided,” the groups said in a statement released Monday. “A robust regulatory dialogue between the U.S. and EU, carried out under clear requirements agreed within TTIP by the respective financial supervisors, would reduce conflict and complexity and improve the efficiency of cross border regulations to the benefit of market participants and, as important, their customers and regulators.”

Financial services have been an area of contention in the talks. The U.S. so far has refused to negotiate regulatory issues on the topic, and in response, the EU has not made any market access offers. Despite the lack of progress, the two sides were expected to discuss a “prudential carve-out” provision that would allow governments to take action to protect their financial systems during economic crises after the last round of talks in October. Read the statement here: http://bit.ly/1TB9Q8V

ICYMI, TISA COUNTRIES REVISE WORK PLAN: Countries negotiating the Trade in Services Agreement quietly wrapped up their 16th round of negotiations earlier this month in Geneva, where they laid out some key deadlines for advancing the agreement this year, the European Commission said in a report on progress made during the round.

A “revised work plan” would have the 50 countries participating in the talks reach agreement by July on the content of key annexes that would establish rules in a number of service sectors. Remaining texts for the deal would be completed by September. Meanwhile, countries will work to revise their market access offers in May and again in October. Read the full report here: http://bit.ly/1KF8s2k

OBAMA’S OTHER LATAM TRIP: With all the excitement over Obama’s upcoming trip to Cuba, you might be forgiven for not noticing that he will also visit Argentina next month to meet with the country’s new reform-minded president, Mauricio Macri. The White House is describing the trip as the first “bilaterally-focused visit” by a U.S. president in nearly two decades. Former President George W. Bush visited the country in 2005 for the Summit of the Americas meeting, where efforts to craft the Free Trade Area of the Americas suffered a final defeat.

Trade and investment is on the agenda for the Obama-Macri summit, along with renewable energy and climate change and citizen security, the White House said. Argentine Secretary of Trade Miguel Braun is expected to discuss the upcoming meeting and Macri’s reform plans in a speech this morning at the Atlantic Council. He is the first high-ranking Argentine official to visit Washington since Macri’s election in October, the foreign affairs think tank said.

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INTERNATIONAL OVERNIGHT

Rep. Jared Polis says he hasn’t made up his mind yet on the TPP, the Colorodoan reports: http://noconow.co/1QWRV6s

After a loss in Nevada, Sen. Bernie Sanders makes sure voters know how he differs from Hillary Clinton on trade and other issues, the Washington Post reports: http://wapo.st/1oZmhyH

British Prime Minister David Cameron warns that exiting the EU could make it harder for the country to conclude trade deals, the Telegraph reports: http://bit.ly/1Q7mqXB

India will review whether its free trade deals need to be changed once the trade facilitation agreement enters into force, the Economic Times reports: http://bit.ly/1PU2w4n

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