TPA/TPP must work for American manufacturers and workers.
It’s time for Congress to take aggressive steps to ensure America’s free market principles prevail over China’s “beggar-thy-neighbor” policies, Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul wrote to congressional leadership on Tuesday.
In the letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Paul writes that all future trade agreements — including the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and trade promotion authority (TPA) — must ensure U.S. companies and workers have a level playing field. Both the Senate and House of Representatives were cc'd on the letter.
Paul writes:
“The trade agreements under negotiation must be high standard agreements that address not only traditional issues, like market access, but also the competitive challenges that our companies increasingly face around the world. Issues such as addressing State-Owned Enterprises, Rules of Origin and others must be appropriately resolved. Trade is a three-dimensional problem confronting our nation and we must rise to the challenge.”
In addition, domestic trade laws must be strengthened in order to effectively respond to unfair trade practices such as dumping, subsidies, currency manipulation and other market distortions, Paul writes. Specifically, Paul urges Congress to take steps to:
- Enforce U.S. rights under trade agreements;
- Trade law proposals to strengthen U.S. manufacturing and agriculture;
- Deter currency manipulation;
- Enforce trade at the border; and
- Address global overcapacity.
Join Scott Paul in telling Congress to strengthen and enforce our trade laws. You can also read the full letter here.