Port directors urge House to approve TPA

Trade Promotion Authority is considered the key to concluding a sweeping Asia-Pacific trade deal that would generate business for ports.    The American Association of Port Authorities on Wednesday threw its weight behind the business sector’s lobbying effort in the House of Representatives for passage of “fast-track” trade negotiating authority for the president.
   The Senate approved a Trade Promotion Authority bill last week.
   Trade Promotion Authority provides a negotiating framework for free trade agreements and an expedited path for a ratification vote in Congress without any amendments. President Obama is keen to use TPA to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement with 11 other nations from Asia, South America and North America. The authority would last six years and also strengthen the White House’s position in negotiations with the European Union on the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.
   The TPP would be the largest free trade agreement in U.S. history, with partner countries controlling 40 percent of global economic activity. Obama is touting the deal as a way to open up markets for U.S. exports and create good paying jobs at home. He is battling critics in the Democratic Party who argue that globalization has been a net loser for the United States, as manufacturing jobs got shipped overseas to take advantage of cheap labor and low U.S. import duties. Supporters say the TPP would set a new bar for enforceable worker rights, and environmental and intellectual property standards, so that all partners are playing by the same rules and have more similar cost structures. 
   In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the AAPA urged swift passage of Trade Promotion Authority, but political observers say a vote in the House is too close to call, with a large section of the Democratic caucus having publicly denounced the bill.
   American ports and local jurisdictions stand to benefit from increased trade generated by trade liberalization. More imports and exports increases the need for logistics jobs and generates hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes.
   “Foreign trade is vital to the United States’ economic well-being, and ports provide critical transportation infrastructure enabling our nation’s exports and imports…From 2007 to 2014, the total economic value that U.S. coastal ports provided in terms of revenue to business, personal income and economic output by exporters and importers rose 43 percent to $4.6 trillion,” the letter stated, referring to the findings of a recent study commissioned by the AAPA.
   In a media conference call, port directors reiterated that the TPP would boost their local economies.
   Port of New Orleans President Gary LaGrange said his port would likely see more goods flowing to and from South American TPP members Chile and Peru. The Port of Seattle expects TPP to increase its exports to Asia, CEO Ted Fick said.
   U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx also participated in the call, agreeing that the completion of TPP would have a positive impact on the U.S. economy and ports.