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Excerpts from an opinion piece by Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa:
The Teamsters, other unions and fair trade advocates have for years criticized a proposed Pacific Rim trade deal for its lack of transparency. Now trade officials with the 12 nations negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are paying the price for not having an open process as they can’t seem to come to an agreement on the proposal.
Despite efforts to keep the deal out of public view, leaks have occurred that have led to concern and more questions. People here in the U.S. and across the globe increasingly believe they have a right to know how the TPP will affect them.
There is even one significant issue that hasn’t been addressed yet. Currency manipulation, for example, allows nations like China to get an unfair leg up on trade. It causes the U.S. to run trade deficits in the billions of dollars with other countries and leads to American jobs being moved overseas. A majority of House and Senate members earlier this year asked the Obama administration to address the matter as part of the TPP. But it appears U.S. officials didn’t even raise the issue during the Singapore...
”Japan – a rich, developed country – is demanding special treatment for its agricultural sector. We consider an agreement that includes such special treatment for Japan to be unacceptable,” wrote the American Farm Bureau Federation and 16 other organizations.A coalition of the major agricultural organizations said they’re likely to oppose a final TPP trade agreement if Japan doesn’t agree to comprehensive trade liberalization, including elimination of tariffs on virtually all U.S. agricultural products.
In a letter sent Dec. 18 to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, the 17 groups said the unwillingness of Japanese negotiators to present a comprehensive offer on agricultural products is threatening to undermine the trade talks.
“In previous negotiations, the United States has demanded and received from developing country trading partners full and comprehensive liberalization in the agricultural sector,” the letter stated. “Yet in the TPP negotiations, Japan – a rich, developed country – is demanding special treatment for its agricultural sector. We consider an agreement that includes such special treatment for Japan to be unacceptable.”
The ag coalition...
After seeing its container cargo volume numbers fall below last year’s figures in August, September and October, the Port of Tacoma has reported its November container numbers improved 3.1 percent over November 2012.
Despite the declines in the three previous months, the port’s total container unit count for the year through the end of November is nearly 12 percent above the 2012 count, said the port.
More at The News Tribune
Source: Associated Press
Source: Equal Times
Source: SFGate
The state agency reviewing a proposed oil terminal at the Port of Vancouver piled up more than 31,000 comments before Wednesday’s deadline passed.
The controversial oil-by-rail facility, proposed by Tesoro Corp. and Savage Companies, has taken on a higher profile than any project recently reviewed by the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council. … The plan has drawn strong opposition in Clark County and elsewhere, bolstered by well-organized environmental groups now digging in for a fight. Opponents have also benefited from a network of volunteers already established for a separate fight over three proposed coal export terminals in the Northwest, including two in Washington.
More at the Columbian
Source: Press Democrat
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