Speaking to an array of business, finance and legal experts in downtown Los Angeles, Secretary of State John Kerry Tuesday hailed the merits of the Trans Pacific Partnership, calling it an instrumental tool for bolstering U.S. trade with an economically dynamic region.
Kerry took issue with those who have denigrated the deal, which is still awaiting congressional approval, accusing them of spreading misinformation to generate fear over the proposal.
Kerry instead painted the deal as a trade pact of the highest standard, saying it will wipe out more than 18,000 foreign taxes on American-made products and represent a major boost for U.S. businesses. He said the deal would eliminate 75 percent overseas tariffs on automotive exports, a 40 percent tariff on beef exports in Japan and 10 percent tariffs on cotton in Vietnam.
“We are part of a 21st Century international landscape that is constantly changing,” Kerry told the Pacific Council on International Policy at the Omni hotel. “And in the past 25 years since the Berlin Wall came down, we’ve seen the old East-West North-South divisions lose relevance as economic might has shifted toward the Pacific.”
The partnership has come under fire from many in Washington, D.C., most notably Republicans but also some key Democrats, including presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
Kerry said the deal, which is designed to eliminate trade barriers with nearly a dozen Asian-Pacific nations, will expand the reach of American-made products, providing key markets for U.S. business.
“Three of L.A.’s top five export markets are TPP members — Mexico, Canada and Japan,” Kerry said.
He also highlighted the deal’s guidelines for protecting intellectual property, “which I don’t have to tell you is a huge issue for California film studios and Silicon Valley.”
Kerry also said the deal has a more significant underlying goal of “defending our strategic interests, deepening our diplomatic relationships, strengthening our national security and reinforcing our leadership across the globe.”
Los Angeles leaders in finance, law, entertainment, non-profit and academia were among those attending the event.
On Monday, Kerry — while attending the G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Hiroshima, Japan — joined the other foreign ministers in touring Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Museum.
“It is a stunning display,” said Kerry, the first secretary of state to visit the city. “It is a gut-wrenching display. It tugs at all of your sensibilities as a human being.
“It reminds everybody of the extraordinary complexity of choices in war and of what war does to people, to communities, to countries, to the world. This was a display that I will personally never forget. I don’t see how anyone could forget the images, the evidence, and the recreations of what happened on August 6, 1945.
“Going through this museum was a reminder of the depth of obligation that every single one of us in public life carries — in fact, every person in position of responsibility carries — to work for peace … to create and pursue a world free from nuclear weapons.”
—City News Service