Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) seek to reduce trade barriers and enhance trading partnerships between nations. FTAs can provide significant benefits to retailers through trade and investment liberalization, transparency in regulatory trade practices, reductions in tariffs and non-tariff barriers, and the creation of reliable and predictable sourcing opportunities. These issues are essential to retailers’ ability to provide American families with a variety of high-quality goods at affordable prices.
RILA welcomes Congressional passage of the three FTAs with Colombia, South Korea and Panama. The United States should maintain open economic policies that ensure the United States remains competitive in a commercially interconnected world.
RILA also applauds the ongoing negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, and strongly supports the timely conclusion of a comprehensive, high-standard, 21st century TPP agreement that will generate new trade and investment, and create a potential platform for economic integration across the Asia-Pacific region.
The strong, bipartisan support that was shown in the recent votes in Congress for the three FTAs with Colombia, Korea and Panama has renewed America’s ability to pursue a more proactive trade agenda, and provides momentum for the Administration in the ongoing TPP negotiations.
The TPP talks continue at a positive rate. Steady progress was made during the ninth negotiating round in Peru, and country leaders announced the broad outlines of an agreement at the November meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders in Hawaii. APEC leaders agreed that they would try to substantially finish the talks by July 2012, with tough issues and a legal review to follow in the second half of 2012, and a TPP signing by the end of 2012. An “intercessional” round of TPP negotiations is scheduled for the first week of December in Malaysia. The next full TPP negotiating round is expected in March 2012 in Australia.
Meanwhile, the next step for the three FTAs with Colombia, Korea and Panama is for the President to certify to Congress that three countries have taken all necessary steps to implement the respective FTAs. It is hoped that this can be done in time for all three FTAs to enter into force on January 1, 2012.
RILA encourages members to provide input to trade negotiators to ensure that the TPP results on a commercially significant agreement that liberalizes and facilitates trade and investment among TPP countries. RILA is working with other business associations to actively provide input to trade negotiators on policies that would bring tangible benefits for American retailers, workers, families.
The United States has negotiated a number of FTAs. Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which allows the president to negotiate new FTAs by providing thorough consultation requirements and streamlined Congressional approval procedures, expired in June 2007. Countries with which the United States has an FTA:
For more information, please contact Stephanie Lester, vice president of international trade, at stephanie.lester@rila.org.