The countries include Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, United States, and Vietnam.
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“With that elimination or reduction of tariffs, our products are going to be much more valuable to other countries importing corn and soybeans”, explained Patrick Kirchhofer, manager of the Peoria County Farm Bureau.
“I know that past trade agreements haven’t always lived up tot he hype”, Obama wrote. NFU president Roger Johnson said “if we enter this agreement, our trade deficit, already exceeding $500 billion per year, will continue to rise, not fall”.
The Chamber of Commerce and other industry groups have rallied in support of the agreement that they say will ease USA companies’ access to Asian markets, while labor groups have opposed it as a threat to American jobs.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) today issued the following statement after the Obama administration notified Congress of its intent to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
“We will be working with our representatives in Congress to describe the benefits of the agreement to their constituents, no matter what part of the state they represent”, Wenger said.
“It’s worse than we thought”, Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, said after examining the full text of the pact, which was unveiled early Thursday. Under the legislation, Congress can vote only up or down on the TPP without any amendments.
The current NAFTA trade deal is superseded by TPP, because it rewrites the rules of trade in North America.
But USA lawmakers have questioned whether it will help exports and create jobs or just expose more American workers to low-wage competition, giving multinational corporations excessive power.
If all 12 countries have not ratified the agreement within two years, provisions allow for it to take effect if six countries comprising 85 per cent of the GDP of the bloc have signed.
That could put pressure on several of Asia’s major developing economies, including the Philippines and Indonesia, which have recently expressed interest in signing up to the pact.
Meanwhile, the deal also exports U.S. copyright law regarding how long a copyright lasts.
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For example, the trade ministry explained that the TPP would eliminate US tariffs on Japanese cars over 25 years, but the South Korea-U.S. FTA will waive tariffs on South Korean automobiles from next year.
