As the US walks away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, the trade treaty the U.S. negotiated with many countries on the shores of the Pacific (Japan, Korea, Thailand, Australia, etc), Australia—usually one of our closest allies—has announced that it wants to move forward with the treaty, with or without the US. If the treaty is signed and ratified without the US, it will be much harder for our companies to export to Asia, as our competitors will, through that treaty, have a much easier time getting access to foreign markets.

Additionally, our companies will not be able to import vital natural resources we don't have enough of at home, but competing businesses in other countries will, allowing them to lower their prices and out-compete us. Some of our companies may be forced to move more factories overseas to get access to those cheaper, tariff-free natural resources and components that they need in order to make their products.

Australia is taking this step because it recognizes that it needs free trade to prosper. We should wonder why they feel trade works for them—since they are a high-wage, high-skilled labor force like we are—when many in the Administration feel it does not work for us.

The Senate, meanwhile, had tough questions for some of Mr. Trump's other trade-related nominees. There is a lot of confusion about which Administration officials will be leading US trade policy, whether it will be newly-confirmed Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, director of the National Trade Council Peter Navarro, Jason Greenblatt (the US Special Representative for International Negotiations), or potential US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

Lighthizer is being held back by the Senate while Senator Manchin of West Virginia demands that the Miners Protection Act pass alongside the approval of Mr. Lighthizer's nomination. That bill would protect the health care and pensions of retired coal miners whose employers have gone out of business. Republicans in the Senate oppose those protections.

Week Looking Forward

The recently-confirmed Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, announced plans to be far more aggressive about enforcing anti-dumping rules that are meant to prevent overseas companies from cutting prices below their costs to drive domestic companies out of business. He also announced he'd ramp up "countervailing duty" cases, where the US government adds tariffs to balance foreign subsidies for their exporting businesses.

While businesses can press those cases, so can the US government, and he argued that to improve enforcement and shorten the time between the offence and the response, Commerce would "self-initiate" or press cases on its own to a far greater degree.

These actions require staff and resources that Commerce does not currently have. The Administration's hiring freeze would make this impossible. Furthermore, as the Administration has just released a budget proposal, it will be interesting to see if funds for those resources and staff have been requested, or whether this plan really is an empty promise.

Questions to Ask Your Member of Congress

• If we walk away from our trade treaties, what will happen to our local business' ability to export to our former trade partners?
• As many businesses in our area rely on importing raw materials they turn into products, will costs for them go up if we increase trade restrictions? Will they become uncompetitive?
• As we import a lot of products from overseas because they're cheaper, won't prices at the store go up if we increase tariffs to prevent those products from being competitive?
• What happens to our influence in Asia if nations there sign a trade treaty with China, that we're not a part of?

Action Items

• Call and ask local industrial businesses in your area if they import components of their products, or export their goods once made. If they say yes to either, ask them whether they're concerned about what the end of free trade will mean for their business.
• Call your member of Congress' local district office and ask for answers to the questions above. If your member of Congress is hosting a town hall in your area later in the month, ask them those questions directly as well.
• Call your state representative and mention your concerns for local businesses if we withdraw from our trade treaties. While the states don't control trade policy, they can pass resolutions declaring their opposition to these actions by the Administration.

- Trade Policy Working Group, Rise Stronger

Have comments or something to add? Contact the RISE Trade Policy Working Group at [email protected]