Trade pact could profoundly affect Georgia

“Americans already pay the highest prices for prescription drugs in the world. We will urge members of Congress to oppose the TPP if this deal will further increase drug prices.”

— Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans

“This is going to take a lot of the cost, time and complexity out of trade.”

—Leslie Griffin, UPS senior vice president for international public policy

“We ask the Administration to release the text immediately, and urge legislators to exercise great caution in evaluating the TPP. As we’ve said, rushing through a bad deal will not bring economic stability to working families, nor will it bring confidence that our priorities count as much as those of global corporations.”

—AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka

The international trade agreement negotiated Monday in Atlanta could profoundly affect industries across Georgia, including producers of milk and poultry, shippers such as the Sandy Springs-based UPS and the Korean car maker Kia, which has a factory in West Georgia.

But few details of the blockbuster deal have become public, resulting in widespread speculation as well as strong endorsements and vitriolic condemnation. Many elected officials and industry leaders are taking a wait-and-see attitude.

Georgia’s agricultural businesses, a major industry in the state, hope the deal will knock down trade barriers and open up new markets. UPS officials say it will create freer markets and more jobs, leveling the playing field for small businesses trying to compete overseas.

But critics — including unions, environmentalists and some Tea Party leaders — blasted the 12-nation pact. Groups on the left and right have called it a giveaway to multinational companies. Labor groups in particular have said the pact resembles the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement, a free trade bill that unions have blamed for decimating American manufacturing and high-paying factory jobs.

If it receives final approval, the Trans-Pacific Partnership would be the largest international trade agreement in history. It has been negotiated for several years behind closed doors, and trade ministers have hunkered down in Atlanta for days to hash out a final deal. Details are expected in about a month.

But its fate is uncertain, as the measure must still be approved by Congress and leaders of other nations. The rumblings of a major debate are already being heard, locally and beyond.

“This is going to take a lot of the cost, time and complexity out of trade,” said Leslie Griffin, UPS’s senior vice president for international public policy. More trade means more jobs at UPS, she added.

But opponents say it is a back-door way for the Obama administration to lower barriers for professionals to cross borders for work. Food safety advocates say the deal could compromise U.S. standards. Environmentals have railed against what they say are the pact’s potential to harm the environment, because corporations could challenge pollution controls.

Advocates for the elderly say the deal could drive up drug prices. They say drug-makers have pushed for 12-year patent protections on certain life-saving treatments.

“Americans already pay the highest prices for prescription drugs in the world,” Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans. He urged Congress to kill the deal if it rises drug prices.

Overall, the deal could add billions of dollars to the U.S. export industry, but there could be tradeoffs, said Jeff Berejikian, associate professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia. For example, a number of countries have requested greater access to U.S. agricultural markets, a generally protected industry. There are concerns that could result in reduced subsidies to farmers in Georgia and the rest of the country.

The pact covers trade between the United States, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

The White House says the agreement will remove tariffs on some 18,000 U.S. goods shipped overseas and provide the strongest environmental protections of any trade pact of its kind, officials said.

Passage of TPP will provide Georgia businesses access to fast-growing markets in Asia and Latin America – which will be key for exports, said Hala Moddelmog, president and CEO of the Metro Atlanta Chamber.

“Our region is increasingly focused on global trade and investment, and TPP is important for our small and medium-sized businesses in growing the economy and adding jobs,” Moddelmog said.

Georgia exports in excess of $18 billion in goods and services to countries involved in the trade agreement, according to a coalition of pro-trade groups. However, how much the new pact could increase that total is not known, since 80 percent of that trade is done with countries already covered by free trade agreements.

Congress can only give the pact an up or down vote, under authority already granted President Obama to negotiate the deal. A vote is likely early next year.

Georgia’s members of Congress and senators mostly shied away from commenting on the complex deal without digesting its contents.

“I hope this is something we will be able to support, but given the track record of this administration when it comes to negotiating with other nations, we need to make sure this agreement benefits Americans, not punishes us,” said Rep. Barry Loudermilk, a freshman Republican from Cassville.

Dairy and poultry were two big points in the agricultural side of the debate. Georgia is one of the world’s top producers of chicken and eggs, and the U.S. was seeking the end of tariffs and improved access for U.S. poultry products. In Malaysia, for instance, U.S. poultry faces 40-percent tariffs.

It’s unclear if the pact will open the market for poultry, but it’s an aspect of the pact that Georgia farmers are sure to watch.

Mike Giles, president of the Georgia Poultry Federation, said he hopes the pact creates a fair system of trade among the dozen countries.

“There have been examples in which U.S. producers have been banned for reasons that are not about science and sanitary reasons,” Giles said. “It has been political.”

Georgia milk producers expressed high hopes, but have concerns, as well.

For instance, New Zealand, a milk exporting powerhouse, asked for greater access to the U.S. market. But in exchange, American milk producers wanted greater access to markets in Japan and Canada. It’s still unclear how the deal resolved that issue.

Though the trade group that represents Toyota, Kia and other Asian automakers supports TPP, Ford Motor Co. asked Congress to reject the pact in its current form. The company said the pact does not do enough to prevent nations from manipulating their currency, which can make their products cheaper to buy and put U.S. companies at a disadvantage.

An executive with Duluth-based ATM maker NCR said, “eliminating barriers to trade is important to the technology sector,” and that the company looks forward to working through details of the pact in the near future.

The debate over TPP has even ventured into local politics.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed issued a statement Monday in support of the agreement, while state Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, said TPP will make income inequality worse.

Meanwhile, Ted Terry, the mayor of Clarkston and communications director for the AFL-CIO in Georgia, asked the Atlanta City Council to consider a resolution urging Congress to give the pact a comprehensive review to ensure the pact advances the interests of working families and vote against it if the agreement doesn’t.

The Associated Press and AJC staff writers Daniel Malloy and Chris Joyner contributed to this report.