Dive Brief:
- President Obama is looking for support from the business community in an effort to push Congress to vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal before the end of his term, the Wall Street Journal Reports.
- The White House put together the President's Export Council, a business led advisory committee including the CEOs of UPS, Xerox and Merck. The council met with Congress yesterday to discuss their agenda, although Merck's chief executive has not formally endorsed the agreement.
- The administration has sought to unite business leaders in support of the agreement now that both presidential candidates oppose the deal. Proponents of the deal fear if the deal is not ratified before President Obama leaves, the next administration will not address the issue.
Dive Insight:
While conversations on the deal will not have an impact on the supply chain, and neither will the rejection of such deal, the agreement would revolutionize the global supply chain in nearly every industry by removing thousands of tariffs and facilitating global trade.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a hot button issue in this year's election featuring a rare situation were both party leaders oppose the current administration on a major policy. Yet, popular opinion on the issue has remained surprisingly unchanged, according to polls from Morning Consult. As a result, the President is now calling on business leaders to help influence public opinion and Congress in support of the deal.
UPS CEO David Abney is among one of President Obama's surrogates on the issue claiming the issue would eliminate red tape from e-commerce while removing customs barriers for small and midsized companies. Intellectual property, investment rules, fair labor and trade harmonization are among other issues covered by the agreement.
As we enter the final months of the year before the Presidential election, the deal is likely to generate much more official and unofficial debate. Silicon Valley, for example, recently sent a letter to Speaker Paul Ryan and House leaders to urge them to "intensify [their] focus on the greater purpose at this critical juncture and pass TPP this year."
