Kerry to Promote Benefits of Landmark Trade Pacts

Secretary of State John Kerry will promote the benefits of two trade pacts championed by the Obama administration during a Tuesday speech to government, civic and policy leaders in Los Angeles.

The State Department said Kerry will address national security opportunities of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a landmark free-trade deal among 12 Pacific Rim countries, and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), an agreement being negotiated between the U.S. and European Union.  

“The Trans-Pacific Partnership is about a lot more than just creating economic opportunities,” said Kerry during an August speech in Singapore. “It is about raising standards." 

The U.S. and 11 other countries that make up the TPP are responsible for 40 percent of the world’s economy. Ministers from those countries signed the agreement in February, but it still needs U.S. congressional approval.

In a March letter to President Barack Obama, a bipartisan group of New York lawmakers said they were “skeptical” that the TPP would “fare better than previous trade agreements.”

They cited provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and said those had resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs in their state.

In a statement, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said TTIP would “help unlock opportunity” for U.S. workers through increased access to European markets. It is unclear if the deal will be completed before President Obama leaves office.

Kerry’s California appearance will wrap up a weeklong tour that included stops in Bahrain, Iraq and Afghanistan. He traveled to California from Japan, where he took part in a Group of Seven industrialized nations meeting and visited a World War Two memorial site in Hiroshima.