Ag Policy Blog

Acrimony Blocks Path for TPA and Pacific Trade Deal

Chris Clayton
By  Chris Clayton , DTN Ag Policy Editor
Connect with Chris:

At the National Farmers Union annual meeting on Monday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will try to tell a group of reluctant farmers that NFU should reverse its opposition to Trade Promotion Authority.

As NFU stated in a recent news release: "Trade promotion authority (fast track) would remove an important constitutional check on the president's power to negotiate trade agreements," NFU President Roger Johnson in a letter sent to every member of Congress on Feb 25. "Trade agreements must be fair for all parties involved and should therefore be subjected to review by the Congress -- not conducted secretly."

NFU may be at odds with much of the rest of agriculture on this. Most agricultural groups support Trade Promotion Authority and are lobbying hard for it. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and several ag groups wrote congressional leaders earlier this week calling on them to approve TPA. Vilsack made a strong case for fast-track a few weeks ago at Commodity Classic. He's also helped get every other recent agriculture secretary to join in the push.

Vilsack, the White House, Farm Bureau, commodity organizations, dairy groups, etc. -- the list of those in agriculture supporting TPA goes. The Chamber of Commerce and numerous other business groups support it. Basically nearly every potential GOP candidate who attended the Iowa Ag Summit backed TPA.

As everyone repeats, particularly Vilsack, Trade Promotion Authority is needed to close the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-country pact that would be the largest such trade deal in the world. The pact could help offset some of the influence of China when it comes to trade in the Pacific Rim. The administration points out the 12 countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership make up 40% of the world's trade.

The Obama Administration states a fully-implemented Trans Pacific Partnership would boost exports nationally by $122 billion. Since agriculture represents 9% of all exports now, that translates into about $11 billion in expanded ag trade. The percentage of U.S. agriculture to other exported products has risen to 9% from 6.6% since 2000.

Also, Asia will see 2.7 billion consumers move into the middle class in the next 15 years. Those folks are going to want to eat better, leading to more sales of protein and feedstuffs.

P[L1] D[0x0] M[300x250] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]

Just drop the tariffs and add on to the port terminals.

Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, a Republican from Utah, said earlier this week he wants a bill on Trade Promotion Authority ready by early April, according to an article in AgriPulse. Hatch is still trying to draft language that would satisfy his committee ranking member, Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat. http://dld.bz/…

Wyden's got a tough deal. He's basically getting stalked by people at town-hall meetings who oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Democratic-leaning groups such as NFU, labor unions and environmental organizations -- the kind of groups most Democrats need to fund their campaigns -- oppose TPA. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has told the Wall Street Journal he doesn't like TPA, but he also thinks there's a block of House conservatives that would prevent the House from passing it. http://dld.bz/…

Twitter lights up with opposition to Trade Promotion Authority and resistance to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

If the Democrats are ambivalent at best, some Republicans keep saying they are moving ahead. But as March moves into April and then into May, keep track of the number of stories coming from Capitol Hill declaring progress is being made. I point that out because little so far this year indicates Congress and the White House are ready to achieve something together.

The president vetoed Keystone XL, and Republicans are unable to overcome a veto on a bill that had bi-partisan support. Again, neither side seems to look for a middle ground that avoids conflict.

Republicans leaders had to give in and rely on Democratic votes to fund the Department of Homeland Security without stripping the president's executive orders on immigration. It's in the courts now.

Congress has spent the last month undercutting the president on foreign policy with the speech from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, followed shortly after with the letter from 47 Senate Republicans to Iran.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wrote an op-ed earlier this month in the Lexington Herald-Leader telling states to defy EPA's regulations to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from coal-fired power plants. States are already suing over the EPA plan and McConnell encouraged continued resistance.

McConnell's op-ed basically implied much the same as the GOP letter to Iran: Congress and the courts are going to run out the clock on anything coming out of this administration. http://dld.bz/…

Congress and the administration will be reacting later this spring to court battles over Obamacare and immigration. Regardless of rulings or which side wins, the other side will gird for the next round.

The political acrimony is such that there ought to be little faith in the likelihood for Trade Promotion Authority making it to the president's desk. And the idea of group of people landing on Mars by January 2017 seems less far-fetched than this Congress voting for a major trade deal by President Obama in the heat of the campaign to replace him.

Follow me on Twitter @ChrisClaytonDTN.

P[] D[728x170] M[320x75] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
P[L2] D[728x90] M[320x50] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]

Comments

To comment, please Log In or Join our Community .