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ITA Newsletter: Helping American Businesses Realize the Benefits of TPP

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February 2016

TPP

Helping American Businesses Realize the Benefits of TPP

Stefan M. Selig is the Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade.

Today in New Zealand, the 12 Ministers representing Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, United States, and Vietnam signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.  After more than five years of negotiations that involved engagement from across Commerce, and in particular ITA, we are all pleased to see all 12 TPP partners formalize the agreement.

The signing of the agreement is an important milestone and underscores there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure that the U.S. business community, in particular our small and medium-sized businesses, are able to take full advantage of this agreement once it is approved by Congress.

Working with partners across USG, ITA is playing central role in the promotion, outreach, and the monitoring of implementation and enforcement of the agreement.  This work will intensify as we move closer to the ratification and implementation of TPP in the U.S. so that American businesses can fully realize the benefits of this landmark trade agreement.

We will continue the outreach to workers, businesses, lawmakers, and other stakeholders to explain the benefits of TPP. TPP will open access to markets representing 40% of global GDP, commit partner markets to transparent rulemaking to prevent the rise of burdensome regulations, is the largest expansion of labor and environmental rights of any trade agreement in history, and deepens the U.S. trade and investment ties among 11 Pacific Rim markets where our exports already support more than 4 million American jobs.

We have produced reports outlining TPP created opportunities for  15 specific industry sectors; such as auto products, consumer goods, information technology, and services. And, we have also produced 50 separate reports that lay out precisely how TPP will help businesses and workers in every state. In particular, I want to highlight how TPP will benefit four U.S. industries:

Health IT: Between electronic health records, remote monitoring, and telemedicine, health IT is clearly poised to be one of the key growth sectors for our economy. Once TPP is enacted,  99.9% of U.S. health products exports will enjoy duty-free access. TPP will also increase intellectual property protections, which will enhance competitiveness and incentivize greater innovation for U.S. firms. Increased deployment of health IT exports will produce improved health outcomes and save lives every day around the world.

Transportation Equipment: 26% of U.S. transportation equipment exports currently go to TPP countries. TPP will build on this strength by eliminating tariffs on transportation exports, as well as streamlining customs requirements and increasing trade facilitation. That is not only essential for the sale of end products, but also for intermediate products within supply chains, like aerospace parts exports for maintenance facilities. And, TPP will make U.S. firms more competitive with Chinese counterparts, who currently enjoy lower tariffs in some TPP markets.

Energy: While this represents one of the critical growth sectors for U.S. firms, without TPP, U.S. exports face tariffs as high as 30%. But because of TPP, U.S. firms will see savings from eliminated tariffs worth $24 million. More importantly, U.S. exporters will see improved access for this sector in countries such as Japan, Vietnam, and Malysia. U.S. exports of renewable energy equipment, such as wind turbines, currently face tariffs as high as 5% in new TPP markets, but competing products from China face no such tariffs.  Under TPP, all tariffs on U.S. exports of renewable energy equipment will be duty-free immediately.

Automotive Products: Prior to TPP, U.S. auto parts exporters faced duties that added $22 million in costs every year, in part because of tariffs as high as 50% in Malaysia and 75% in Vietnam. Once TPP is enacted, 98.2% of U.S. auto products exports will be eligible for immediate duty free treatment. And over time, all of the remaining tariffs will be removed.

You can find more information on the benefits of TPP, including our state-by-state and sector-by-sector reports, by clicking here. Educating all interested stakeholders is the best way to secure this crucial part of the President’s trade agenda.

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Success Story

U.S. Exporter Finds “Lofty” Niche in Light Lift Technology

John Falls always had an affinity for engineering. One day, after taking advice from his brother-in-law, Falls partnered with long-time friend Ron Williams to pursue a solution that would allow people to safely and easily clean chandelier fixtures and replace bulbs without using a ladder. 

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Want to know how your industry will benefit from the TPP? Check out our TPP Opportunities Industry Reports

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SelectUSA
Mark Your Calendar: SelectUSA 2016 Investment Summit

Registration Opens for the 2016 SelectUSA Investment Summit

The United States continues to be the premier investment destination for entrepreneurs and investors from all around the world. International companies are serious about committing to the U.S. market, evident by the overwhelmingly positive response to the last SelectUSA Investment Summit in March 2015.

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Under Secretary Selig meets with the Council of the Americas in Mexico to discuss US-Mexico commercial partnership and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

2015: A Year of Achievement for Trade and Investment

At the beginning of 2015, the President declared during the State of the Union that “the shadow of crisis has passed and the State of our Union is strong.”  Trade and foreign investment play an important role in making our nation strong. The successes we achieved last year to advance our trade and investment agenda prove that very point.  And for many of the successes that occurred in 2015, the International Trade Administration played a critical role.

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