{"id":5307,"date":"2016-02-02T08:18:56","date_gmt":"2016-02-02T13:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/?p=5307"},"modified":"2016-02-11T08:58:08","modified_gmt":"2016-02-11T13:58:08","slug":"sign-our-tpp-comments-to-the-international-trade-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2016\/02\/02\/sign-our-tpp-comments-to-the-international-trade-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands Send TPP Comments to the International Trade Commission"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LetterWritingDWS\"<\/a>More\u00a0than 2,000 people across the United States joined Citizens Trade Campaign in\u00a0submitting comments to the\u00a0U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) about\u00a0the Trans-Pacific Partnership\u2019s (TPP\u2019s) likely economic impacts. \u00a0The ITC will use these comments in an official study it is publishing about the pact that is sure to garner attention from both Congress and the media.<\/p>\n

The following comments were sent both to the ITC and to Congress:<\/p>\n

Re: Comments on No. TPA-105-001,\u00a0Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: Likely Impact on the U.S. Economy and on Specific Industry Sectors<\/i><\/p>\n

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would make it easier for corporations to offshore American jobs and push down American wages, by throwing U.S. employers into deeper competition with companies exploiting workers in low-wage countries such as Vietnam, where many people make less than 65 cents an hour, and Malaysia, where many people in export-oriented industries are the victims of human trafficking.\u00a0 These countries could set their minimum wage at $1\/day and their maximum hours of work at 24\/day and still be in compliance with the TPP\u2019s abysmally-inadequate new labor requirements.<\/p>\n

As if this weren\u2019t incentive enough for increased offshoring, the TPP includes investor protections that reduce the risks and costs of relocating production to low-wage countries.\u00a0 The proposed pact would also roll back the number of multilateral environmental agreements signatory countries are obligated to \u201cadopt, maintain and implement\u201d in their domestic laws from the seven included in all previous U.S. trade agreements since the George W. Bush administration to just one.<\/p>\n

Americans deserve an honest assessment of how these and other TPP provisions would affect U.S. jobs, wages, income inequality and balance of trade.\u00a0 As such, when studying the TPP, we strongly encourage the International Trade Commission (ITC) to please:<\/p>\n

(1)\u00a0Avoid unrealistic assumptions, such as full employment, neutral trade balances and static income inequality.<\/b><\/i>\u00a0 Business-as-usual trade agreements have offshored jobs, increased deficits and driven down wages.\u00a0 Rather than honestly assess these phenomena, methodologies and models employed in the past by the ITC, and others such as the Peterson Institute, simply \u201cassume\u201d one or more of these problems away. To create a truthful picture of the TPP\u2019s impact on working families, the ITC’s modeling must recognize that people can lose jobs to offshoring and not find new work; that trade deficits can increase; and that economic benefits from trade policies can be concentrated among the rich, while working people suffer income losses.<\/p>\n

(2)\u00a0Assess how anticipated export gains could be wiped out by currency manipulation.\u00a0<\/b><\/i>\u00a0The TPP fails to include the binding disciplines against currency manipulation that were requested by large numbers of Democrats and Republicans in Congress in order to protect U.S. firms, farmers and workers from unfair competition.\u00a0 The ITC’s study should detail how potential export gains associated with tariff reductions could be negated by currency manipulation.<\/p>\n

(3)\u00a0Take into account how weak \u201crules of origin\u201d could affect U.S. jobs and wages.\u00a0<\/b><\/i>\u00a0In particular, automobiles that are assembled primarily from parts made in non-TPP countries such as China, which are not subject to any TPP obligations whatsoever, could enter the United States duty-free under the TPP, because the TPP weakens the \u201crule of origin\u201d for autos included within NAFTA.\u00a0 The ITC\u2019s study should include an assessment of how weak rules of origin impact U.S. trade balances, job loss and income inequality.<\/p>\n

(4)\u00a0Investigate how increased fossil fuel exports could increase energy costs for U.S. producers and consumers.<\/b><\/i>\u00a0 The TPP would require the export of natural gas to TPP countries \u2014 including Japan, the world\u2019s top importer \u2014 be automatically deemed in the national interest, thus bypassing certain economic and environmental reviews.\u00a0 Please consider how anticipated fossil fuel exports under the pact might increase energy costs for U.S. producers and consumers, and please at least acknowledge the economic costs of associated environmental degradation.<\/p>\n

Finally, we\u2019d like to add that the ITC\u2019s requirement that 8 hard copies of any testimony be submitted to its Washington, DC office is a barrier to public comment and public participation.\u00a0 Such a requirement may have been understandable in an age before computers and the Internet, but is unnecessary and inappropriate when considering a 21st Century trade agreement.<\/p>\n

Thank you for your consideration.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thank you to everyone who participated. \u00a0A PDF of the comments is available online here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More\u00a0than 2,000 people across the United States joined Citizens Trade Campaign in\u00a0submitting comments to the\u00a0U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) about\u00a0the Trans-Pacific Partnership\u2019s (TPP\u2019s) likely economic impacts. \u00a0The ITC will use […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5236,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[101,66],"tags":[83],"yoast_head":"\nThousands Send TPP Comments to the International Trade Commission - Citizens Trade Campaign<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"More than 2,000 people submitted comments to the US International Trade Commission about the TPP's likely impacts on American jobs and wages\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2016\/02\/02\/sign-our-tpp-comments-to-the-international-trade-commission\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thousands Send TPP Comments to the International Trade Commission - Citizens Trade Campaign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"More than 2,000 people submitted comments to the US International Trade Commission about the TPP's likely impacts on American jobs and wages\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2016\/02\/02\/sign-our-tpp-comments-to-the-international-trade-commission\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Citizens Trade Campaign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-02T13:18:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-02-11T13:58:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/LetterWritingDWS-1024x558.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"558\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CTC\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/\",\"name\":\"Citizens Trade Campaign\",\"description\":\"Working Together for Social and Environmental Justice in Trade Policy\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2016\/02\/02\/sign-our-tpp-comments-to-the-international-trade-commission\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/LetterWritingDWS.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/LetterWritingDWS.png\",\"width\":1638,\"height\":894},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2016\/02\/02\/sign-our-tpp-comments-to-the-international-trade-commission\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2016\/02\/02\/sign-our-tpp-comments-to-the-international-trade-commission\/\",\"name\":\"Thousands Send TPP Comments to the International Trade Commission - Citizens Trade Campaign\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2016\/02\/02\/sign-our-tpp-comments-to-the-international-trade-commission\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-02T13:18:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-02-11T13:58:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#\/schema\/person\/9d3513e21fbf580e742ca365e5b29cea\"},\"description\":\"More than 2,000 people submitted comments to the US International Trade Commission about the TPP's likely impacts on American jobs and wages\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2016\/02\/02\/sign-our-tpp-comments-to-the-international-trade-commission\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2016\/02\/02\/sign-our-tpp-comments-to-the-international-trade-commission\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2016\/02\/02\/sign-our-tpp-comments-to-the-international-trade-commission\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Thousands Send TPP Comments to the International Trade Commission\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#\/schema\/person\/9d3513e21fbf580e742ca365e5b29cea\",\"name\":\"CTC\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99ccaaf6325245800715c05802f4c0b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99ccaaf6325245800715c05802f4c0b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CTC\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/author\/ctcfairt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Thousands Send TPP Comments to the International Trade Commission - Citizens Trade Campaign","description":"More than 2,000 people submitted comments to the US International Trade Commission about the TPP's likely impacts on American jobs and wages","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2016\/02\/02\/sign-our-tpp-comments-to-the-international-trade-commission\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Thousands Send TPP Comments to the International Trade Commission - Citizens Trade Campaign","og_description":"More than 2,000 people submitted comments to the US International Trade Commission about the TPP's likely impacts on American jobs and wages","og_url":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2016\/02\/02\/sign-our-tpp-comments-to-the-international-trade-commission\/","og_site_name":"Citizens Trade Campaign","article_published_time":"2016-02-02T13:18:56+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-02-11T13:58:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":558,"url":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/LetterWritingDWS-1024x558.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CTC","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/","name":"Citizens Trade Campaign","description":"Working Together for Social and Environmental Justice in Trade Policy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2016\/02\/02\/sign-our-tpp-comments-to-the-international-trade-commission\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/LetterWritingDWS.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/LetterWritingDWS.png","width":1638,"height":894},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2016\/02\/02\/sign-our-tpp-comments-to-the-international-trade-commission\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2016\/02\/02\/sign-our-tpp-comments-to-the-international-trade-commission\/","name":"Thousands Send TPP Comments to the International Trade Commission - Citizens Trade Campaign","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2016\/02\/02\/sign-our-tpp-comments-to-the-international-trade-commission\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2016-02-02T13:18:56+00:00","dateModified":"2016-02-11T13:58:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#\/schema\/person\/9d3513e21fbf580e742ca365e5b29cea"},"description":"More than 2,000 people submitted comments to the US International Trade Commission about the TPP's likely impacts on American jobs and wages","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2016\/02\/02\/sign-our-tpp-comments-to-the-international-trade-commission\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2016\/02\/02\/sign-our-tpp-comments-to-the-international-trade-commission\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2016\/02\/02\/sign-our-tpp-comments-to-the-international-trade-commission\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Thousands Send TPP Comments to the International Trade Commission"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#\/schema\/person\/9d3513e21fbf580e742ca365e5b29cea","name":"CTC","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99ccaaf6325245800715c05802f4c0b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99ccaaf6325245800715c05802f4c0b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CTC"},"url":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/author\/ctcfairt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5307"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}