Canada to sign TPP; final text released

With help from Doug Palmer

CANADA TO SIGN TPP; FINAL TEXT RELEASED: Canada’s new Liberal government will sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement next week in New Zealand with the 11 other countries in the pact. But Canadian Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland described the decision as a way to keep Canada’s options open rather than an endorsement of the deal, which was concluded in October under Conservative leadership in Ottawa.


“For Parliament to fully evaluate the merits of the TPP and for consultations to continue, Canada needs to stay at the table with the other TPP countries,” Freeland said in an open letter posted on the government’s website. “Not attending would mean withdrawing from the TPP altogether, even before Canadians have had an opportunity to fully debate its implications.”

Meanwhile, New Zealand cleared the way for the Feb. 4 signing ceremony by releasing the final text of the agreement following an exhaustive effort to fix cross-references, typos and redundancies in the version released in early November and to revise word choices for consistency across the pact. Click here to see Freeland’s letter: http://bit.ly/1K6J84M ; and here to see the text: http://bit.ly/1WCwFpK .

IT’S TUESDAY, JAN. 26! Welcome to Morning Trade, where your host feels like this after finally shoveling out from this weekend’s blizzard: http://gph.is/1KKghiN . Of course, that was after going 12 back-breaking rounds with Snowzilla, played here by Dolph Lundgren: http://gph.is/1S7gLGC .

Any toasty trade news to share? Reach me at [email protected] or @mjkorade.

IRE ON TRADE: FORD WITHDRAWAL RAISES SENS.’ HACKLES: Ohio’s senior senator is taking Ford Motor Co.'s decision to withdraw from Japan's auto market as one more reason to oppose the TPP, although the Obama administration says the pact will open Japan's market to more U.S. cars.

"The ink isn’t even dry and we are already seeing proof that this massive agreement will sell out American workers and roll back the remarkable recovery of our auto industry," Democrat Sherrod Brown said Monday after Ford announced it will close operations in Japan and Indonesia.

But an administration official said the reason U.S. companies have experienced rough going in Japan is because of the country’s lack of regulatory transparency, burdensome certification requirements, discriminatory financial incentives and other non-tariff barriers -- the kinds of things the agreement is meant to fix, the official said.

"Provisions addressing all of these barriers, and meaningful currency obligations, are included in TPP, giving us a real opportunity to increase our footprint in Japan, while keeping our auto tariffs on Japan in place for decades,” the official said.

Sen. Rob Portman, a former U.S. trade representative, joined Ford in blasting the administration for not including currency provisions that would be subject to dispute settlement under the deal. "Ford's decision is an example of why real, enforceable currency measures, like those I've championed, are needed," the Ohio Republican said. "I will continue to urge the Obama administration to support American workers and address the currency manipulation issue before any vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. "

FROMAN SEES TTIP WINDOW IN 2016: With U.S. trade negotiators in Brussels this week, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman gave a speech Monday at the University of Warsaw that stressed the need to advance that other massive trade deal the Obama administration is negotiating, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union.

"We have been making steady progress in the negotiations over the past couple of years," Froman said, according to the text of his remarks. "We have a window to get this done this year, but to do so, we need to accelerate that progress."

Froman stressed the geostrategic importance of the trade deal as well as the opportunity for Poland to diversify its export markets and strengthen its relationship with the United States: "Economically and strategically, we're at an important moment in time," Froman said.

The 12th full round of TTIP negotiations are scheduled to take place in the second half of February, although the specific dates haven’t been announced.

Read Froman’s remarks here: http://1.usa.gov/1POeytt . Stay tuned for more on TTIP when Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Michael Punke and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström speak today in Brussels: http://bit.ly/1nKzo6r .

INDUSTRY: U.S.-CHINA REACH RICE DEAL: The end could be in sight in the long-running saga over U.S. rice exports to China, or lack thereof, an industry group reports. U.S. officials have confirmed Beijing has “agreed on a phytosanitary protocol that will permit the import of U.S. milled rice,” the USA Rice Foundation said in a statement posted to its website Friday.

“The challenge now is to move from agreement to shipments,” USA Rice CEO Betsy Ward said.

The Agriculture Department has been negotiating with China for years to open its lucrative market to U.S. rice, given a 2001 agreement that suggested America could send as much as 2.7 million tons a year to the country, the largest producer and largest importer of the grain.

But China’s concerns about monitoring beetles and assorted labeling demands delayed a deal, which some hoped could be achieved by the time President Barack Obama met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in September.

Read the group’s report here: http://www.usarice.com ; and more on the talks here: http://politico.pro/1nv3lrd .

ARGENTINA CLAIMS COMPLIANCE WITH WTO RULING: Argentina told the WTO Dispute Settlement Body on Monday that it has complied with a ruling against a set of restrictive measures it imposed on imported goods several years ago. But the United States, the European Union and Japan said Buenos Aires was still in violation of its trade commitments, diplomatic sources said.

The situation creates the potential for the three trading partners to move toward retaliation unless newly elected Argentine President Mauricio Macri’s government can persuade them not to take that course. Argentina faced a Dec. 31 deadline to comply with the WTO ruling and said Monday it was prepared to work with the countries to persuade them it has done all it needs to do. It also said its new non-automatic import licensing system was not subject to the panel’s scrutiny.

The case, which dates back to August 2012, has moved through the WTO system at a relatively brisk pace compared to some other disputes. Argentina lost a preliminary ruling in August 2014 and then an appeal in January 2015.

WTO HANGS HELP WANTED SIGN: The WTO is beginning a selection process to fill an upcoming vacancy on its Appellate Body. The second four-year term of Yuejiao Zhang, of China, expires May 31, and she’s not eligible for reappointment because of the membership limit of eight years. The term of a second Appellate Body member, Seung Wa Chang, of Korea, also expires May 31, but he has said he’s willing to serve a second four-year term.

The Appellate Body is currently dealing with just one appeal, but three more could be filed in the first quarter of 2016, Dispute Settlement Body Chairman Harald Neple said Monday. There are also 20 active dispute settlement and arbitration panels, including two implementation panels, he said.

EU OFFICIAL: FTC INDEPENDENCE AN ISSUE IN SAFE HARBOR TALKS: A EU official in the Safe Harbor negotiations says the unique standing of the Federal Trade Commission, an independent agency that has previously enforced a similar version of the U.S. side of the transatlantic data transfer agreement, has popped up as an issue, POLITICO Pro Technology’s Nancy Scola reports.

"For us, the question has been [that] the FTC is an independent authority, so the U.S. government cannot bind the FTC to follow up on any particular complaint," Andrea Glorioso, counselor for the digital economy with the EU's delegation to the U.S., said at the State of the Net conference Monday in Washington.

The complication is making it difficult for U.S. negotiators, led by the Commerce Department, to guarantee Europeans the right to fight the use of their data by U.S. companies, Glorioso said, adding, however, that there is a narrow universe of cases in which that dynamic might prove problematic.

But FTC Commissioner Terrell McSweeny stressed that her agency “is very capable” of enforcing Safe Harbor, Pro Tech’s Tony Romm reports.

Asked about the issue by POLITICO during the conference, McSweeny said the U.S. government takes “very seriously the comments and criticisms” from the European Commission, but added she’s “very confident in the FTC’s process and its ability to be a quality consumer protection enforcer. ... I think we have a demonstrated track record here.”

Europe’s top court invalidated the original U.S.-EU Safe Harbor agreement in October in a case that revolved around concerns about U.S. government surveillance. With a Jan. 31 deadline for a new agreement looming, EU leaders are pushing for stronger teeth to ensure the FTC enforces privacy rules.

INTERNATIONAL OVERNIGHT

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) tells Brietbart News that there’s a lot to like about GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s trade views: http://bit.ly/1OUfT1U .

Canadian New Democratic Party leader Tom Mulcair says the Liberal government's decision to sign the TPP without committing to ratifying the deal is a bit of "flim-flam," CTV News reports: http://bit.ly/1OUgL6P .

New Zealand has released its analysis of the TPP a couple of weeks early, Radio New Zealand reports: http://bit.ly/1nLSfxK .

CNBC examines the winners and losers from the plunge in oil prices: http://cnb.cx/1VmCnwi .

THAT'S ALL FOR MORNING TRADE! See you again soon! In the meantime, drop the team a line: [email protected] and @ABehsudi; [email protected] and @vtg2; [email protected] and @tradereporter; [email protected] and @mjkorade; and [email protected] and @JsonHuffman . You can also follow @POLITICOPro and @Morning_Trade.

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