GOP Backers of Trade Deal Ponder Next Steps
January 23 2017 - 5:38PM
Dow Jones News
By Siobhan Hughes
WASHINGTON -- The boundary that for decades had separated
Republicans from Democrats over trade policy was erased on Monday
when President Donald Trump formally withdrew from a 12-nation
trade pact and GOP lawmakers who had fought hardest for the
agreement muted their disappointment with their own party's
president.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) said that Mr. Trump "is
wasting no time acting on his promises" and that "we look forward
to working with the president to build on these actions." It was a
notable moment because Mr. Ryan was a leading proponent of the
Trans-Pacific Partnership and less than two years ago had helped
drive through Congress legislation to speed approval of the
agreement.
Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, one of the few
Republicans to forcefully challenge some of Mr. Trump's proposals
since the November elections, stood nearly alone among the GOP
lawmakers who have supported the trade pact to openly say that Mr.
Trump was making a mistake.
"This decision will forfeit the opportunity to promote American
exports, reduce trade barriers, open new markets and protect
American invention and innovation," Mr. McCain said in a statement.
"It will create an opening for China to rewrite the economic rules
of the road at the expense of American workers."
After the elections, leading Senate Republicans had tried to
persuade Mr. Trump to go ahead with the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
But by this month, they appeared to acknowledge that their efforts
were a lost cause.
Among the most disappointed constituencies are farm states,
which had hoped the 12-nation trade pact would open new markets for
crops whose prices have eroded.
"I think it's a missed opportunity, and I'm sorry about that,"
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R., Kan.) told
reporters earlier this month. He had told Vice President Mike Pence
that drawing up new, bilateral agreements would take a long time
and be less efficient than approving a larger trade agreement that
would have covered about 40% of the world's economy.
The next steps aren't clear. Some Republicans have been trying
to lay the groundwork for new bilateral deals, which Mr. Trump has
said he prefers to multination trade pacts.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R., Utah), whose
committee has jurisdiction over trade policy, had told reporters in
December that he might try to press the Trump administration to
initiate a trade deal with Japan, which was one of the signatories
to the 12-nation deal.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R., Texas),
whose panel oversees trade policy in the House, said in a statement
that the trade pact "contains considerable benefits for the U.S.
economy -- but it fell short in other ways."
He said that Congress didn't have the votes to ratify the trade
deal last year, a proposition that was never tested because the
Obama administration never submitted the trade deal to Congress for
approval.
"It's important that America not abandon the Asia-Pacific
region, because American companies and workers will lose out," Mr.
Brady said. "I urge the Trump administration to build on the work
that has been done, identify what should be improved, and act
quickly on a strategy that creates more economic opportunities for
America in that region."
Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the top Senate Democrat,
suggested that Mr. Trump's announcement lacked significance.
"TPP was dead long before President Trump took office," Mr.
Schumer said in a statement. "We await real action on trade."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said it largely
was Democratic opposition that kept the trade pact from becoming
law.
"Democrats hope that today's largely symbolic action will be
followed by more serious steps to raise wages and create more
good-paying jobs for hardworking Americans," she said in a
statement.
Write to Siobhan Hughes at siobhan.hughes@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 23, 2017 17:23 ET (22:23 GMT)
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