Obama administration outlines tariff benefits of TPP

The White House said the trade agreement between the United States and 11 other nations will go a long way to remove costly tariffs for U.S. exporters.    The Obama administration said the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which is currently under negotiation between the United States and 11 other nations, will go a long way to remove costly tariffs for U.S. exporters.
   “TPP will support jobs here at home by tearing down barriers to Made-in-America exports abroad,” said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman in a statement. “We already have an open economy, but not all countries do. TPP will help level the playing field so that our products and services aren’t frozen out of the fastest growing markets in the world.”
   In addition to the United States, the other TPP partners include Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
   The Obama administration outlined some of these tariffs against U.S. goods in a report released Tuesday. For example, it noted the United States is one of the most open economies in the world, with an average import tariff of 1.4 percent and zero applicable tariffs for 70 percent of all imports. But in overseas markets, tariffs on U.S. goods are more than twice as high on average.
   “American manufactured goods face tariffs of up to 100 percent on certain goods in TPP markets, and American agriculture exports face tariffs over 700 percent on some products,” the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said.
   The report cited TPP tariffs for U.S.-produced agricultural goods, automotive parts, building products, chemicals, consumer goods, fish, footwear, forest products, high-tech instruments, health products, infrastructure materials, information technology, metals and ores, machinery products, minerals and fuels, and textiles.
   U.S.-manufactured footwear in TPP nations faces quotas and tariffs of more than 100 percent. According to USTR, the United States exported $824 million of footwear worldwide in 2014, and $370 million of that went to TPP countries. In another example, tariffs on U.S.-made building products in TPP countries are as high as 60 percent. TPP countries imported nearly $29 billion of the $46 billion in global U.S. exports of U.S. building products in 2014.
   Many U.S. agricultural exports to TPP member countries currently face even higher tariffs. For instance, USTR noted the United States exported $6.7 billion in pork products overseas in 2014, with $4.7 billion of that imported by TPP countries. “Currently, tariffs on pork and pork products range up to 25 percent in Vietnam. In Japan, tariffs range over 300 percent depending on the value of the product,” USTR explained.
   The full report, with tariff examples, may be viewed here.