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TPP in South Dakota politics part III: congressional delegation

Last week I provided recaps of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) in the South Dakota Legislature and the SD Department of Agriculture. In this post I will focus on some of the actions I’ve noticed taken by SD’s congressional delegation in DC. Most of the action seems to come from Rep Noem and Sen Thune. Sen Rounds has been pretty quiet on the subject.

US House Representative Kristi Noem

April of 2014 was the first time I took notice of Noem pushing for TPP.  At that time she took a ten-day trip to Asia-Pacific countries to talk about trade. After that trip began the push for TPP. Here is the US House floor speech Noem gave about TPP:

In the speech Noem was definitly supporting TPP because of the additional trade it would bring SD, and the US as a whole. Noem did mention that she couldn’t support TPP unless agricultural trade barriers are eliminated. At the time I thought of those as empty words from Noem, and still believe it to be true…

In September of 2014 I noticed Rep Noem promoting TPP. This was in response to an article she was highlighted in. Here is part of what she said in the article:

“Currently, nearly half of South Dakota’s exports are bound for the 11 other countries that would be involved in the TPP, and a further elimination of trade barriers would only expand our opportunities,” Noem said.

This continued the small push Noem had made for TPP.

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Kristi Noem speaking in Aberdeen. Photo by Ken Santema 08/11/14
Kristi Noem speaking in Aberdeen. Photo by Ken Santema 08/11/14

Then in June of this year Noem’s office had a series of press releases promoting trade promotion authority (TPA). TPA would allow the administration to push through trade agreements and force congress to vote aye or nay; and it would not allow congress to amend any trade agreements.

On June 11 there was a press release trying to counter “misinformation”. Here is part of that press release:

It is false to say that TPP negotiations have been secretive.

Earlier drafts are not made public in this way, because revealing draft proposals before a deal is struck emboldens our opposition, undermines our negotiating positions, and exposes negotiators to public scrutiny over provisions that might not even be in a final deal.  We need to keep the upper hand to get the best deal for America.

Many of us believe negotiators SHOULD be exposed to public scrutiny. If transparency means anything it must be used at all times in government affairs. Corporations have been allowed to take place in TPP negotiations. Yet the consumers in the US that would be impacted by TPP have had no view of what goes on. From a public standpoint that process IS secretive.

Then on June 18 Noem’s office sent another press release trying to get support for TPA. This was directly after she voted Yea to TPA and wanted the Senate to do the same. Here is part of the press release:

“With Trade Promotion Authority in place, the American people would be guaranteed a seat at the negotiating table,” said Noem, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over such issues.

Noem definitely was trying to sell TPA. Of course she left out that when TPA is being used that all negotiations had already been done…

After the Senate passed TPA she sent a press release on June 24 urging President Obama to sign the bill. Here was part of that press release (which was mostly a rewrite of the previous one):

TPA allows Congress to help set the rules for trade negotiations and lays out congressional objectives of what a good trade deal looks like for America.  This helps ensure greater transparency throughout the negotiating process by empowering Congress to conduct vigorous oversight and hold the administration accountable.

Noem forgets to mention that TPP negotiations had almost completed at this time. Even if TPA would set rules for negotiations, which many find a dubious claim, it is hard to imaging that the negotiations would suddenly change at the end due to one piece of legislation passed in the final round.

Finally I recently noticed Rep Noem was speaking to students in Gregory. Here is what the Daily Republic reported about Noem in regards to TPP:

Another student asked about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is a proposed trade agreement between the U.S. and about 11 Asian countries.

When U.S. exports arrive in Japan, Noem said a tariff is immediately applied that raises the price by 38 1/2 percent. She said that practice makes U.S. goods unaffordable for citizens in Japan who want food raised and grown in the U.S.

“If we can get this trade agreement done and it’s done correctly, it will allow us to sell a lot more food and be good for our families here,” Noem said. “There will be more jobs, there will be higher-paying jobs and there will be more people who are able to help our economy be stronger.”

This comes after TPP had been finalized earlier in the month. It is quite clear that Noem is still supportive of TPP and believes it will be good for SD.

US Senator John Thune

The first activity of Thune supporting TPP actually came in support of TPA earlier this spring. In March Thune went on the Senate floor to push for the passage of TPA. Here is the press release and here is the clip of that speech:

In part Thune had this to say:

The first of these agreements, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, is being negotiated with a number of Asia-Pacific nations including Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Currently, American goods face heavy tariffs in many of these countries, at times as high as 85 percent.

Tariffs of that size put American goods at an incredible disadvantage compared to their foreign competitors.

Tariffs provide a powerful disincentive for citizens in other nations to purchase American products.

Removing this disincentive would increase foreign demand for U.S. products, which would mean more business for U.S. farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers, and more jobs and opportunities for American workers.

Thune has done better than many at giving reasons to support TPP. Unfortunately TPP is not a free trade agreement. And TPP does not eliminate most tariffs; rather TPP reduces many of the largest tariffs that hurt trade for SD agriculture.

The other press releases from this spring were basically just ones to urge Democrats to support giving President Obama TPA. Kind of ironic the President needed the help of Republicans to pass TPA.

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Senator John Thune speaking at the SD Ag Summit in Deadwood. Photo by Ken Santema 07/10/15.
Senator John Thune speaking at the SD Ag Summit in Deadwood. Photo by Ken Santema 07/10/15.

Then in June I was able to see Senator Thune speak about TPP at the SD Governor’s Agricultural Summit 2015 held in Deadwood. Thune was one of the guest speakers in the panels discussing trade opportunities for SD ag. He spent some time talking about how important TPA is and why he pushed for its passage.

Here is what I reported about Thunes presentation in relation to TPP:

Thune believes both TPP and TTIP are important to open up trade in the ag industry and that neither would pass without TPA. He noted that going back to the 1930’s that only one trade agreement had been passed without some sort of expedited authority like TPA. While talking about TPA Thune noted that he was not doing this to support Obama. Thune said Obama is only going to be around for another 18 months, and that TPA will be there for 6 years. So, Thune wanted to make sure that whoever replaces Obama will also be able to handle trade agreements. He went on to say that in order to be at the table for trade agreements that TPA is necessary. I disagree, but that again is a post for a different day.

Thune hoped TPP could be done soon (I am very late in doing this post, TPP is now finalized and waiting for a vote). He had some concerns about TPP, such as tariffs on dairy in Canada. I wish Thune had  gone into that talking point deeper. He really didn’t say what he thought would happen with that.

Really Thune spent very little time talking about TPP, and instead kept focus on TPA. He did have some high level talking points about how trade agreements have a positive impact on exports and that it helped national security. But overall he really didn’t get into any specifics about TPP.

Since TPP has been finalized Thune does seem to be backing away slightly. Here is what was reported by SDPB radio:

United States Senator John Thune says he generally supports trade deals, but some parts of the latest international agreement raise his concern.

….

Thune says he’s heard pieces of the deal since Monday’s agreement, and he’s concerned about some of the elements.

…“TPP has the potential to grow American exports when you consider that the combined nations in that agreement account for about 40 percent of the entire global economy, but we’ve got to make sure that the agreement lives up to the high standards that we set in the Trade Promotion Authority bill which we enacted earlier this year.”

Thune says he plans to carefully review the details of TPP before he decides whether to support the agreement.

Now he has concerns? Of course now Thune has actually had a chance to find out some of what is included in TPP. It is NOT a free trade agreement. And the “high standards” set in TPA were irrelevant, TPP negotiations were close to being completed by the time TPA passed. I don’t expect to hear much about TPP from Thune’s office in the next year. It is an election year for him, and Obama is likely to refrain from submitting TPP for a vote until after the election.

US Senator Mike Rounds

There has been very little coming out of Senator Rounds that I’ve noticed in regards to TPP. Rounds did sent out a press release in April of this year supporting TPP. Here is part of what he said:

Free and fair trade agreements across the world open up new markets to South Dakota products. Our farmers and ranchers would particularly benefit from agreements such as TPP and TTIP. But in order to negotiate the best deal for our country, we must allow the administration to pursue trade agreements through parameters set by the Congress, and within the Trade Promotion Authority, to enable our current and future presidents to negotiate the best deal possible. That is exactly what the Senate TPA bill would do. This method has a proven record of boosting economic activity and bringing higher-paying American jobs. I look forward to debating TPA legislation when it comes to the full Senate in the coming weeks.

This was released just before TPA was being debated in the Senate. He didn’t really go into TPP much. Nothing I’ve noticed out of the Rounds office makes me believe the topic is really on his radar. Perhaps he is just letting Noem and Thune take the lead on this issue.

The post TPP in South Dakota politics part III: congressional delegation appeared first on SoDakLiberty.


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