Obama Win to Speed TPP Talks, but Textile Importers Lose Supporters—USA-ITA
President Barack Obama's re-election gives "a degree of credibility and, perhaps, urgency" to the Administration's goal of concluding the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement by the end of June 2013, said David Spooner of Squire Sanders, Washington counsel for the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel (USA-ITA). Spooner analyzed the election's outcome for USA-ITA members.
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A victory by Mitt Romney "would have almost certainly delayed the TPP talks by months" because Romney would have needed to choose top trade officials and evaluate the U.S.'s TPP proposals, Spooner said.
Spooner noted that U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk has pledged to leave at the end of the year and there's no Secretary of Commerce. He said filling those vacancies and getting Senate approval of the nominees will make it more difficult for the U.S. to finish the TPP negotiations in early 2013.
The President will probably need to ask Congress for "fast track" negotiating authority to close the TPP talks, Spooner said, and "it will be very interesting to see whether a second term provides the President the comfort he needs to ask Congress for trade negotiating authority."
Spooner said other election outcomes include:
- In Congress the outcome was "amazing stability in a year after redistricting and after such an intense election."
- Rep. Larry Kissell (D-N.C.), "a stalwart for the domestic textile industry during his two terms in Congress," was defeated. Kissell had sponsored legislation to boost Customs inspections of imported apparel and frequently served as the point man in the House for the domestic textile associations, Spooner said.
- Two "key Members of Congress who were active on trade issues" retired, Spooner noted: Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.), "a longtime friend of the retail and apparel industry," and Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.), who often sided with her yarn-spinner constituents, but often supported free trade agreements.