President Barack Obama’s trade agenda has hit a couple of speed bumps in recent days in Washington state, which often bills itself as the nation’s most trade-dependent state.
Last week the Bellingham City Council passed a resolution opposing Obama’s request for trade-promotion authority, commonly called “fast-track” authority, which would force Congress to take up-or-down votes on trade pacts with no amendments or filibusters allowed.
And on Monday night the Seattle City Council approved a similar resolution, giving opponents of fast-track authority much to cheer about as Congress prepares to take up Obama’s trade agenda later this month.
The president’s critics hope that the votes in the Evergreen State portend an uphill fight for Obama.
Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C., said they’re significant because they represent public opinion in “a place where trade is a big deal.” And she said grass-roots opposition is growing across the nation.
“In the 20-plus years I’ve been working on trade issues, I have never seen this level of unity across the entire progressive world,” Wallach told reporters in a conference call Wednesday.
As evidence, she said, no progressive organizations have lined up to back Obama’s call for fast-track authority while “scores of groups” that sat out previous trade debates are now mobilizing their members to lobby Congress. She said the movement involves millions of Americans, including clergy members, small business owners, members of unions and environmental groups, activists, retirees and students who will lobby individual members of Congress whenever they’re in their home districts in coming months.
While opponents of fast-track authority are increasingly confident of success with Congress, they still face a battle against public opinion that overall favors trade, at least as measured by polls. Last year, for example, a poll by the Pew Research Center found that 59 percent of Americans think that free trade generally is good for the United States.
Freshman Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington state, who backs Obama’s trade-promotion authority request, called the city votes “shortsighted” and said they overlook the importance of international trade to the state.
“It’s unfortunate,” he said in an interview. “Certainly, in central Washington, we see a huge benefit of having the ability of moving our products overseas. It would be a huge step backwards if our ability to grow those exports is in any way compromised.”
For many opponents of Obama’s request, the local resolutions reflect a growing frustration with the push for more global trade pacts.
Mark Lowry, president of the Northwest Washington Central Labor Council in Bellingham, said trade agreements help large corporations in the state such as Boeing or Microsoft but do little to aid workers.
“We really don’t see that we’re benefiting very much,” Lowry said in an interview. “At the same time, we feel our manufacturing jobs are being off-shored as a result of these things and we end up a net loser in it.”
Business groups often cite a study showing that 40 percent of all jobs in the state are tied directly or indirectly to global trade.
Eric Schinfeld, the president of the Washington Council on International Trade in Seattle, said support for global trade remains strong in the state. He condemned the vote by the Seattle City Council, saying “trade is the lifeblood of Seattle’s economy” and that the vote sends the wrong message about the city’s commitment to being a global city.
But he added that the votes by the two councils represent “an excellent game of political gamesmanship,” not majority sentiment.
“I do not believe that the Seattle and Bellingham city councils are representative of the majority of Washington state residents,” Schinfeld said in an interview. “I tip my hat to the labor and environmental communities who have found very sympathetic city councils and passed resolutions there. . . . But I honestly do not believe that it shows a larger public groundswell against the president’s trade agenda.”
Critics of trade-promotion authority say it would be a mistake for Congress to give up its power to change trade pacts. Supporters say that U.S. negotiators need fast-track authority at the bargaining table to assure foreign countries that Congress won’t try to meddle after a deal is signed.
Newhouse said that, without fast-track authority, foreign countries would “hold back” in negotiations and not put their best offers on the table.
Obama wants fast-track authority before Congress takes up his plan to expand trade throughout the Pacific Rim. That plan, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, would involve 12 nations and create the largest trade pact in history. It’s still being negotiated in secret, a source of frustration for opponents.
Seattle council members complained that the Obama administration has not released any details of the proposed trade pact to the public or to state and local officials.
While opposing Obama’s request, the Seattle resolution said the city supports trade agreements “that protect American jobs, maintain enforceable labor and environmental standards and preserve the sovereignty of America’s judicial system.”
In a statement after the vote, Seattle Council Member Mike O’Brien, the resolution’s co-sponsor, described himself as “pro-trade” and said the United States has the ability to negotiate progressive trade pacts.
“But I oppose fast-track for the TPP because Seattle has some of the highest environmental and labor standards in the country, and it is critical that multinational corporations do not have the power to undermine our laws or values,” he said.
Trade is an issue that generally unites Washington state’s congressional delegation, drawing support from liberal Democrats such as Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Jim McDermott and more conservative Republicans such as Reps. Dave Reichert and Cathy McMorris Rodgers.
After the Seattle vote, Newhouse, Reichert and McMorris Rodgers issued a statement that called the situation “disheartening.”
“By setting themselves against trade-promotion authority, the Seattle City Council is positioning itself against a better future for families and communities across our state,” they said.
The White House referred questions to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Matt McAlvanah, assistant U.S. trade representative for public affairs, said growing exports is particularly important in Washington state, with nearly a third of the state’s exports going to Trans-Pacific Partnership countries last year.
“Whether it’s apples, airplanes or high tech services, as a gateway to the Pacific, Washington state has a tremendous stake in tearing down trade barriers across the Asia-Pacific region,” he said in an e-mailed statement.
The resolutions opposing Obama’s request passed both the Seattle and Bellingham city councils with unanimous votes.
“It was a pretty easy sell,” Lowry said.
Now, with Congress expected to take up fast-track authority in the coming weeks, Lowry said he and other opponents will next urge the Whatcom County Council, based in Bellingham, to pass a similar resolution.
“We’re running out of time – we recognize that,” Lowry said. “But this strikes us a strong strategy for shining daylight on the TPP.”