Utah Pork Producers Association: Hatch trade bill would be good for Utah
By Jim Webb, President of the Utah Pork Producers Association
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/2499435-155/op-ed-hatch-trade-bill-would-be
The United States is on the verge of closing one of the most important regional trade negotiations ever undertaken. This deal will have long-lasting benefits for Utah's agricultural workers, particularly in the hog industry, including farmers, processors and input suppliers.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which falls under the jurisdiction of our own Sen. Orrin Hatch as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is the best new hope for global trade liberalization, with 12 countries in this first round of talks and others lining up to be included in subsequent rounds.
But resolving the remaining difficult issues and pushing TPP across the finish line require passage of Hatch's Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill, which defines U.S. negotiating objectives and priorities for trade agreements and establishes consultation and notification requirements for the president to follow throughout the negotiation process.
Once negotiators finalize a deal, under TPA, congressional lawmakers get to review it and take an up or down vote on it — without amendments. Congress has granted TPA to every president since 1974, with the most recent law being approved in August 2002 and expiring June 30, 2007.
The TPA legislation soon to be considered in Congress allows U.S. negotiators to work with trading partners to reach the best deal possible for the United States. It also includes language that addresses important issues such as labor and environment standards, human rights issues and intellectual property protections. The measure even creates a "chief transparency officer" in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to engage Congress and the public on trade negotiations.
TPA will empower U.S. trade officials to pursue and conclude a number of free trade agreements (FTAs), but it's the TPP that now is paramount for the U.S. business and agricultural sectors.
In addition to the United States, the TPP negotiation includes Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, which combined account for nearly 40 percent of global GDP. Opening those markets to U.S. goods would be a boon to our economy.
For U.S. agriculture, trade is vital – as it is for every sector of the economy given that more than 95 percent of the world's population lives outside the United States. The $150.5 billion in agricultural products exported in 2014 supported more than 1 million American jobs, and for every $1 in farm exports, an additional $1.22 in business activity was stimulated, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. So 2014's agricultural exports generated another $183.6 billion in economic activity in the United States, bringing a total benefit of $334 billion.
Utah in 2014 sent $12.3 billion of goods, including more than $530 million of agricultural products, to foreign destinations. Trade supports more than 374,000 jobs in the state, with more than 700 of them in the hog industry, including farmers, processors and input suppliers.
So Utah farmers like us — and businesses throughout the state — benefit tremendously from trade, particularly with countries with which the United States has FTAs. Indeed, America exports nearly as much to the nations with which it has agreements as to the rest of the world and, when it comes to pork, we send more to our FTA partners than to all other countries combined. And while the United States has a $660 billion trade deficit with the countries that don't have FTAs with us, it's only a $62 billion deficit with our FTA partners — and several of those agreements haven't been fully implemented.
Voting for trade deals can be tough for some lawmakers. Utah's congressional lawmakers, led by Hatch, have been supporters of trade agreements. But the bottom line is that FTAs, such as TPP, which eliminate barriers to U.S. trade and boost our exports, help create U.S. jobs and benefit our economy. And the first step to getting those agreements finalized is approving TPA.
Jim Webb is president of the Utah Pork Producers Association.
