Weekly Address: President Obama – Writing the Rules for a Global Economy

The President’s Weekly Address post is also an Open News Thread. Feel free to share other news stories in the comments.

From the White HouseWeekly Address

In this week’s address, the President spoke to the merits of the high-standards trade agreement reached this past week. The Trans-Pacific Partnership helps level the playing field for American workers and businesses, so we can export more Made-in-America products all over the world, supporting higher-paying American jobs here at home. The President acknowledged that past trade agreements have not always lived up to expectations, but emphasized that this is a good deal, with the strongest commitments on labor and environment of any trade agreement in history. It reflects America’s values and gives our workers the fair shot at success they deserve. The President encouraged everyone to read the agreement, which will be available online well before he signs it, and looked forward to working with lawmakers from both parties as they consider and approve this deal.

Transcript: Weekly Address: Writing the Rules for a Global Economy

Remarks of President Barack Obama, Weekly Address, The White House, October 10, 2015

Hi, everybody. This week, after five years of effort with eleven other nations, we reached agreement on a new trade deal that promotes American values and protects American workers.

There’s a reason this Trans-Pacific Partnership took five years to negotiate. I wanted to get the best possible deal for American workers. And that is what we’ve done. Here’s why it matters.

Ninety-five percent of the world’s consumers live outside our borders — 95 percent. They want to buy American products. They want our cars; our music; our food. And if American businesses can sell more of their products in those markets, they can expand and support good jobs here at home.

So it’s no wonder that exports played a huge role in helping America recover from the Great Recession. In fact, last year, we set a new record for American exports for the fifth year in a row, selling more than $2 trillion in goods and services. Our exports support roughly 12 million American jobs — and they’re jobs that typically pay better than other jobs.

But here’s the thing: Outdated trade rules put our workers at a disadvantage. And TPP will change that.

Right now, other countries can cut their costs by setting lower standards to pay lower wages. This trade agreement, TPP, will change that, holding partner countries to higher standards and raising wages across a region that makes up nearly 40 percent of the global economy.

Right now, other countries charge foreign taxes on goods that are made in America. Japan, for example, puts a 38 percent tax on American beef before it even reaches the market. Malaysia puts a 30 percent tax on American auto parts. Vietnam puts taxes as high as 70 percent on every car American automakers sell there. Those taxes and other trade barriers put our workers at a disadvantage. It makes it more expensive to make goods here and sell them over there. Well, TPP is going to change that. It eliminates more than 18,000 of these taxes on American goods and services. And that way, we’re boosting America’s farmers, ranchers, manufacturers, and small business owners — make it easier for them to sell their products abroad.

That’s what it means to level the playing field for American workers and businesses. And when the playing field is level, and the rules are fair, Americans can out-compete anybody in the world.

Now, I’m the first person who will say that past trade agreements haven’t always lived up to their promise. Sometimes they’ve been tilted too much in the direction of other countries and we haven’t gotten a fair deal. And that makes folks suspicious of any new trade initiatives. But let’s be clear. Our future depends not on what past trade deals did wrong, but on doing new trade deals right. And that’s what the TPP does.

It includes the strongest labor standards in history, from requiring fair hours to prohibiting child labor and forced labor. It includes the strongest environmental standards in history. All these things level the playing field for us, because if they have to follow these rules, then they can’t undercut us and sell their products cheaper because they’re violating these rules. And unlike past trade agreements, these standards are actually enforceable.

Without this agreement, competitors that don’t share our values, like China, will write the rules of the global economy. They’ll keep selling into our markets and try to lure companies over there; meanwhile they’re going to keep their markets closed to us. That’s what’s been going on for the last 20 years. That’s what’s contributed so much to outsourcing. That’s what has made it easier for them to compete against us. And it needs to change.

With this Trans-Pacific Partnership, we are writing the rules for the global economy. America is leading in the 21st century. Our workers will be the ones who get ahead. Our businesses will get a fair deal. And those who oppose passing this new trade deal are really just accepting a status quo that everyone knows puts us at a disadvantage.

Look, you don’t have to take my word for it. In the coming weeks and months, you’ll be able to read every word of this agreement online well before I sign it. You’ll be able to see for yourself how this agreement is better than past trade deals — and how it’s better for America’s working families. You can learn more at WhiteHouse.gov. And I look forward to working with both parties in Congress to approve this deal — and grow our economy for decades to come.

Thanks, everybody. And have a great weekend.

Bolding added.

~

From the White House: The Trans-Pacific Partnership, What You Need to Know about President Obama’s Trade Agreement

The President’s Trade Deal, Explained by a Cherry: Follow this American cherry as it travels to market in other countries to see why America’s trade policy needs the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

8 Comments

  1. The President:

    I’m the first person who will say that past trade agreements haven’t always lived up to their promise. Sometimes they’ve been tilted too much in the direction of other countries and we haven’t gotten a fair deal. And that makes folks suspicious of any new trade initiatives. But let’s be clear. Our future depends not on what past trade deals did wrong, but on doing new trade deals right. And that’s what the TPP does.

    As the details of the deal become clearer in the next few months, and presidential candidates discuss the pact, the American people will have the opportunity to decide for themselves if this deal is indeed better than past deals and if the pluses outweigh the minuses.

    We owe it to the president to look at what his negotiating team has put together before coming to a decision.

  2. In the News: The President from Roseburg Oregon after he met with the victims of the latest last week’s horrific shooting …

    (President Obama with Roseburg Mayor Rich and Oregon Governor Brown)

  3. In the News: Court blocks Waters of the United States EPA Rule

    A federal court ruled Friday that President Obama’s regulation to protect small waterways from pollution cannot be enforced nationwide.

    In a 2-1 ruling, the Cincinnati-based Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit delivered a stinging defeat to Obama’s most ambitious effort to keep streams and wetlands clean, saying it looks likely that the rule, dubbed Waters of the United States, is illegal.

    “We conclude that petitioners have demonstrated a substantial possibility of success on the merits of their claims,” the judges wrote in their decision, explaining that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new guidelines for determining whether water is subject to federal control — based mostly on the water’s distance and connection to larger water bodies — is “at odds” with a key Supreme Court ruling.

    The judges said they have yet to decide whether they have jurisdiction to review the regulation, but a stay would make it easier to determine that.

    Great! Let’s stop an important rule and THEN decide if they have the right to do so. Sheesh. The petitioners, by the way, are red state governors who care more about their corporate donors than they do their people’s health and the natural beauty of their states.

    The EPA said it will respect the court’s decision, but it believes the rule is legal and necessary.

    “The agencies respect the court’s decision to allow for more deliberate consideration of the issues in the case and we look forward to litigating the merits of the Clean Water Rule,” EPA spokeswoman Melissa Harrison said.

    “The Clean Water Rule was developed by the agencies to respond to an urgent need to improve and simplify the process for identifying waters that are and are not protected under the Clean Water Act, and is based on the latest science and the law,” she added.

    There’s the stumbling block. Based on science, can’t have that, say right-wing judges.

  4. In the News: Money in politics – 158 families set the electoral agenda

    Just 158 families have provided nearly half of the early money for efforts to capture the White House….

    They are overwhelmingly white, rich, older and male, in a nation that is being remade by the young, by women, and by black and brown voters. Across a sprawling country, they reside in an archipelago of wealth, exclusive neighborhoods dotting a handful of cities and towns. And in an economy that has minted billionaires in a dizzying array of industries, most made their fortunes in just two: finance and energy.

    Now they are deploying their vast wealth in the political arena, providing almost half of all the seed money raised to support Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Just 158 families, along with companies they own or control, contributed $176 million in the first phase of the campaign, a New York Times investigation found. Not since before Watergate have so few people and businesses provided so much early money in a campaign, most of it through channels legalized by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision five years ago….

    :(

    • The illustrations accompanying this article clearly illustrate the spending impact of these few families. How I wish the Citizen’s United decision would be revisited.

      • One thing I don’t get is why people in Finance would want to donate to the Republican Party. Yes, they are the party of less taxation but they are also the party that wants to use the debt limit as a bargaining chip, a position that could create global economic chaos and a meltdown of the markets. It can’t all be explained by greed since these folks have more than enough to live on – 1,000,000 times over.

  5. People are asking “Why can’t we see the deal???”. Well, it needs to be “scrubbed”:

    … the TPP is getting a “legal scrub.”

    That’s the term used by the U.S. Trade Representative’s office to describe the process that follows a handshake deal. Lawyers, translators and other staffers have to come up with the final, detailed language that ensures the deal is clear in each country.

    That’s not easy. TPP includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. So documents have to line up precisely in English, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Malay and more.

    The deal was closed on Monday, and later in the week, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman told reporters that scrubbing all of the words in a document covering 30 chapters may take about a month.

    After it is released, Congress will have 90 legislative days to review it and then it has to be approved by both houses of Congress. They can’t alter the deal … only vote up or down on it. I wonder if it is “House legislative days” or “Senate legislative days” or the calendar of work days that most people use? I think there are only about 10 “House legislative days” per year. ;)

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