Rep. Rick Larsen talks Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in visit to San Juan Island

Published 9:48 am Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Congressman Rick Larsen came to San Juan Island to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed trade agreement between 12 Pacific Rim countries that make up 40 percent of the world’s economy.

The town-hall style meeting was attended by islanders from San Juan, Lopez and Orcas, including Lopez councilman Jamie Stephens.

This was the fifth and last stop for Rep. Rick Larsen in a tour of meetings around the district. To begin the meeting, Larsen stated that he had not finished reading the more than 5,000 page document, though he plans to, and doesn’t know yet which way he will vote.

He also addressed first-off two major concerns of TPP mentioned at the other meetings: that foreign corporations will be able to use TPP to challenge and undermine local laws, and that TPP may create a “race to the bottom” of wages and labor standards.

Larsen said that foreign corporations are already challenging local laws on some fronts and that TPP would not be necessary to do that. In addition, he said, it doesn’t change the fundamental process of law.

“It becomes a creature of the constitution, therefore it is subject to any constraints of the constitution,” Larsen said.

Unlike North American Free Trade Agreement, which many opponents have compared to TPP in its scope and impact, Larsen said that TPP does have a section to address labor standards, though he said the real question is whether the standards would be enforced by the countries entering the agreement.

On the positive side of TPP, Larsen said, was the reduction of 18,000 tariffs to help “level the playing field” for U.S. products and workers. In addition, TPP is posed as the strategic edge to set economic trade standards in the Pacific Rim ahead of China who is “ready, willing and able” with a set of trade agreements of its own, called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

“The [TPP] agreement is probably not as good as the administration says, and it’s probably not as bad as their opponents say,” Larsen said.

On the negative side, Larsen said, was the potential Investor-State Dispute Settlements and whether the process is constitutional or not, and the concern of enforcement on issues like labor disputes and standards.

“Objectively you could say there they are, but is it going to be enforced? That’s a critical question to answer,” Larsen said

Larsen also said that the number of jobs created or lost by TPP is not a gauge that will influence his decision due to the number of reports that had wildly different estimates.

“The methodology of their reports depends on the ideology of those who are writing them,” Larsen said. “You have to be discernible about that.”

Jobs did factor into the discussion, however, as Larsen stated that 40 percent of jobs in Washington state are trade-related, and he said he had to consider that in his decision. Other concerns brought forward by audience members about TPP include the secretive nature in which the trade agreement was written, degradation of food safety coming into the country,and not doing enough to end forced labor abroad.

Trade negotiations finished Oct. 5, and President Barack Obama notified Congress of his intent to sign the agreement Nov. 5, which begins a 90 day wait period until he signs the agreement. The full text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership can be found online at the Office of the US Trade Representative.

– By Anna V. Smith, Journal reporter