WASHINGTON, DC - Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) and Trade Subcommittee Chairman Sander M. Levin (D-MI) issued the following statement today regarding the Administration’s announcement that the United States will engage on the Trans Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement (TPP):
“As President Obama said in Tokyo during his Asian trip, America has ‘a stake in the future of this region because what happens here has a direct effect on our lives at home.’ The TPP offers both opportunities and challenges. Done effectively, it can be of mutual economic benefit, including by breaking down barriers and gaining real access for U.S. farmers, workers and businesses, and incorporating international labor and environmental standards.
“It also presents the challenge within a new trade policy of grappling with the inclusion of a country, Vietnam, transitioning from a non-market economy with government control of key sectors, restrictions in the Vietnamese labor market, and absence of worker rights as documented in the most recent U.S. State Department Human Rights report. These considerations underscore the importance of active consultations between the Administration and Congress at every significant juncture in the engagement on TPP, working together to implement a 21st Century trade policy."
