Pacific Rim Trade Deal an Opportunity to Advance Campaign Promises

For Immediate Release
June 14, 2010

BUSINESS:
New Pacific Rim Trade Deal an Opportunity for White House to Advance Campaign Promises
Fair Trade Advocates Urge “New Deal or No Deal” as the U.S. Plays Host to Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Negotiations This Week

SAN FRANCISCO — As trade negotiators representing the United States and seven other Pacific Rim nations met in San Francisco today for a week of talks on a new “Trans-Pacific Partnership” (TPP) trade pact, fair trade advocates from Oregon were present to urge the U.S. delegation to use the TPP as opportunity to advance the President’s campaign pledges on trade reform.

“On the campaign trail, President Obama repeatedly spoke about the need for significant trade policy reforms,” said Arthur Stamoulis, director of the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign, a statewide coalition of labor, environmental and human rights organizations.  “We were excited by the President’s promises to change the public procurement, investor rights, consumer safety, agricultural dumping, labor and environmental provisions in future trade agreements, and we hope he’ll fight for those changes in the TPP.”

In May 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama answered a detailed candidate questionnaire from the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign explaining his views on needed trade policy reforms.  A PDF of his responses is available online at: https://www.citizenstrade.org/ctc/oregon/files/2011/12/ObamaResponse.pdf

Many of the President’s campaign promises are addressed in comprehensive trade reform legislation called the TRADE Act (HR.3012/S.2821), currently cosponsored by a majority of House Democrats including Congressmen David Wu and Peter DeFazio, as well as Senator Jeff Merkley.  The Oregon Fair Trade Campaign has urged the White House to use the TRADE Act’s provisions as its negotiating objectives for the TPP.

“The United States already has Free Trade Agreements with a majority of its TPP negotiating partners, including those with the largest economies.  As such, the TPP isn’t about opening new markets and there’s really no excuse for this agreement to move forward without it being done right,” said Stamoulis.  “The Trans-Pacific Partnership is an opportunity to build consensus around a new model for international trade.  If that ball gets dropped, so should the TPP.”

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