TPP talks heading into Saturday

Negotiations on a sweeping Asia-Pacific agreement are heading into the weekend with the aim of finishing the long-awaited deal. 

The United States and 11 other nations are trying to resolve the final batch of thorny issues, including market access for the dairy industry and the length of intellectual property protections for certain complex medicines, in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a deal that covers 40 percent of global gross domestic product.

{mosads}Trade negotiators have expressed a willingness to put the final touches on a deal before leaving Atlanta this weekend, according to news reports.

During the talks, congressional lawmakers have made their stances clear on a number of issues such as excluding tobacco from investor-state settlement dispute challenges and the rules of origin for automobiles.

Some lawmakers urged U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and his team to take their time on the far-reaching pact to get not only the best deal possible but one that Congress can approve. 

At the same time, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association on Friday expressed disappointment that an agreement has remained elusive.

“For U.S. beef producers, every day that passes is a lost opportunity in terms of leveling the playing field with our competitors,” said the group’s president, Philip Ellis.

“America can no longer afford to wait another six weeks or six months in hopes of finding a better deal in something that has been negotiated for years,” Ellis said.

“It is time for the United States to lead, and now is the time to conclude negotiations on TPP.”

Supporters of President Obama’s trade agenda argue that the sweeping TPP agreement reaches well beyond just lowering tariffs and would set up a global regulatory framework across medicines and financial services, among a slew of other industries, that would benefit U.S. companies and workers.

But many congressional Democrats argue that shoddy trade agreements of the past have cost U.S. workers millions of jobs and stifled wage growth. 

Any further delay on completing the TPP pushes the trade issues into the 2016 election season, intensifying what is expected to be an already daunting effort to get a deal through Congress under fast-track rules that allow for only an up-or-down vote.

The president already faces a tough task in retaining the limited support he got from House and Senate Democrats during the fast-track process while convincing Republicans proponents to stay onboard. 

Republicans and Democrats who have backed the president’s trade efforts have threatened to yank their support if U.S. officials defy congressional guidance.

In recent days, groups of lawmakers have banded together to express their concerns about the direction of the TPP talks, including 17 members of the House Agriculture Committee. 

The lawmakers — all of whom supported fast-track — sent a letter to Froman on Thursday outlining how they must see improved market access for rice and dairy among other agricultural products to support the final TPP deal. And they said warned that a proposed exception for tobacco would establish “a dangerous new precedent” in global trade and risk passage of the agreement.