TPP Concerns Outlined by Former USTR, Scholars
U.S. negotiators should emphasize quality over speed when working on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) analyst Stephen Ezell said during a teleconference about its new report on the TPP (http://xrl.us/bnnig6). The report says U.S. TPP negotiators should work on decreasing market barriers and increasing intellectual property rights protections among TPP participants. “It’s more important to get the TPP done right than to get it done right away,” Ezell said during the teleconference, saying the terms of the TPP will be seen as a “gold standard” across the world and in the future.
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Former U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky agreed. “There is no other deadline that should be of any relevance,” she said, acknowledging that it will take substantive discussion to reach an agreement. “The issues that really emerge now ... are the tough issues,” she said. “The low-hanging fruit has essentially been taken care of."
The fact that some countries participating in the TPP discussions have been named to the USTR “watch lists” -- part of its annual Special 301 report on intellectual property protections of U.S. trade partners -- “should give us some pause when we approach these negotiations,” Barshefsky said, encouraging negotiators to “push these countries to the highest possible standard.” The ITIF report said six TPP participants remain on either the 2012 “priority” or regular watch list, and three countries, including the U.S., have joined the Government Procurement Act, a World Trade Organization agreement that encourage non-discrimination and transparency in government procurement processes.
"U.S. negotiators will be informed by the U.S. law, including the views of Congress,” Barshefsky said. “These agreements must go back to that body,” she said, which should encourage negotiators to ensure that Congress’s expectations are “fully observed.” Specifically, Barshefsky cited the Affordable Care Act’s provision that biomedical innovations receive data exclusivity rights for 12 years.
Discussion of the TPP and its economic implications have been “startlingly absent from the campaign dialogue” this election cycle despite its significance, said Democratic strategist Douglas Schoen. “There is a clear link between protecting innovation, innovators and industries ... and protecting our jobs and the strength of the economy,” he said. In an election focused on economic growth and job creation, he said, “I've really been startled that the link has not been made."
But the election should not put pressure on the government to get the TPP done quickly, Schoen said, saying a quickly arrived-at but poorly thought out agreement would be a potential short-term political gain but a long-term economic loss. The issue is “too important to be left to mere politics,” he said.