Washington Insider-- Friday

By DTN's Washington Insider

Here's a quick monitor of Washington farm and trade policy issues from DTN's well-placed observer.

House Agriculture Committee Member Calls for U.S. to Challenge Foreign Farm Subsidies

House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., this week said he thinks the United States should challenge Brazil, China, India and other countries when they fail to meet their World Trade Organization commitments on trade and subsidies. Speaking at a committee hearing on Wednesday, Peterson said, "If we are going to compete in a global marketplace we need to be on a level playing field."

The hearing, which was convened to review subsidies provided to foreign agricultural producers by their governments, heard from one witness that the issue of filing WTO cases hasn't received much attention at the WTO because countries often are delinquent in reporting increases in subsidy levels. For example, China just recently submitted data for 2010. Also, when countries do submit required notifications, they sometimes use faulty methodologies that misrepresent the level of support provided.

During the latest periodic WTO review of India's trade policies this week, the United States complained that those policies distort global markets, and that India should seek long-term reductions in agricultural tariffs and remove unjustifiable sanitary and phytosanitary standards, and technical barriers to trade on agricultural imports.

That would seem to indicate that if the United States does choose to file complaints with the WTO regarding foreign farm subsidies, India may well be the first nation targeted. Whether the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative would take this step or continue to work behind the scenes to convince India to change its ways is not known. However, congressional pressure to go the WTO route could build in coming months.

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House Takes Another Whack at Administration's Climate Change Policies

The House this week approved a funding bill covering environmental activities of the Justice Department that contains an amendment that would ban Justice from using any appropriated funds for certain climate-related activities. Those activities include the preparation of several climate-related reports such as the National Climate Assessment, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report, the United Nations' Agenda 21 sustainable development plan or the May 2013 Technical Update of the Social Cost of Carbon for Regulatory Impact Analysis.

Republicans disagree with many of the administration's climate and environmental policies, especially with its plans to increase environmental enforcement associated with oil and gas extraction in some areas of the country. In response, they are seeking to preclude the administration from undertaking studies that might come to conclusions not embraced by the GOP.

The future of the bill, which would appropriate $51.4 billion, is uncertain. Earlier this week, the White House Office of Management and Budget issued a veto threat for the Justice Department appropriations bill, in part due to lack of funding for legal activities related to environmental protection.

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Washington Insider: New Take on TPP Stakes

The House Republican majority and the White House are more than a little uncomfortable in their push for final passage of President Obama's fast-track trade bill. Both groups are somewhat timidly announcing that they see enough votes for passage. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the president is talking with House Republicans –– as well as with fellow Democrats –– and that there is a feeling that supporters of Trade Promotion Authority will find enough votes for passage.

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio was more circumspect, or maybe just more unwilling to give the White House much credit. He noted, "I don't think we're quite there yet" in gaining enough support to pass the measure. Still, he told the press he hopes to get the fast-track measure onto the House floor in the next few weeks.

The trade measure, passed in May by the Senate, would let the president negotiate and sign trade agreements and submit them to Congress for an expedited up-or-down vote. Trade experts note the TPA for the administration is necessary to get trading partners to make the concessions necessary to complete an ambitious agreement.

"We have been pleased with the effective communication between the White House and leading House Republicans on this issue," the White House spokesman said. But, "There's a lot more work to be done."

Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the third-ranking House Republican and top party vote-counter, said at a news conference on Tuesday, "We're going to continue to work until we get it done." However, press reports indicate that neither side in the debate is backing up such claims with specifics on their vote analysis. "Everybody has different whip counts," said Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat who supports giving the trade promotion authority to Obama.

Most Republicans are backing Obama, who contends the trade measure would help U.S. workers and set rules for the global economy. Many Democrats continue to blame an earlier deal, the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, for a decline in U.S. manufacturing jobs, a charge most analysts suggest is fairly easy to refute.

Two House aides said last week that informal vote counts showed more than 200 Republicans supporting the measure and about 25 House Democrats prepared to vote yes, enough for a clear majority. The Republican and Democratic aides sought anonymity to discuss the measure in advance of a vote.

About 20 Democrats say publicly that they're willing to buck most of their caucus to support the president. Scalise and others are holding one-on-one meetings this week with undecided Republicans, said California Republican Devin Nunes, a fast-track supporter. Also, on Wednesday Scalise and Ryan hosted pro-trade organizations at the Capitol.

Republican supporters pointed with approval to Obama's plans to press the case through speeches, interviews on local television stations to promote trade, and offering cover to Democrats who are on the fence.

In a new and very important development, the president on Wednesday said that China is considering the possibility of participating in TPP. "[The Chinese] already started putting out feelers about the possibilities of them participating at some point," Obama said in a radio interview.

This has the possibility of being something of a game-changer for the TPP, depending on the extent to which China is actually willing to extend World Trade Organization disciplines to its state owned enterprises, a topic that would expected to be on the table before any significant participation by the Chinese would be allowed.

However, the possibility, however remote, that China might join the TPP suddenly raises the prospect that the free trade deal actually would cover the vast bulk of trade in the Pacific. That, in turn, would elevate the TPP from an important and very interesting trade deal to one with the possibility of making a real and important difference in the way the world's traders relate to each other, Washington Insider believes.

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(GH/CZ)

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