Falls Church, VA. October 6, 2015. For the 100-plus members of the AIIS, and particularly for the livelihoods of the many thousands of men and women who work for them and who depend on a globally competitive steel supply chain, news that the 12-nations participating in the Trans- Pacific Partnership negotiations have concluded their work is a most hopeful development.AIIS has championed the expansion and encouraged the progress of these important negotiations for four reasons.
First, at a time when the United States economy is flat and our wage growth is stagnant, when Canada, one of our largest trading partners, is in recession, when the world economy is still fighting to regain traction after the 2008 financial crisis, and when the World Trade Organization has downgraded its 2015 forecast for global trade, these negotiations have the potential to deliver an invigorating boost to a group of countries that represents 40 percent of global GDP and one-third of world trade.
Second, economic momentum in the right direction is important. Over the past few years, we have seen what economic momentum in the wrong direction looks and feels like. An ambitious and robust TPP Agreement would help build and sustain much-needed positive momentum.
Third, the current 12-nation TPP arrangement could eventually expand to include all 21 Pacific Rim member countries of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. This development would strengthen and deepen investment and trade ties in what is already the most economically dynamic part of the world. It also has the potential to give new impetus to even more comprehensive, market-opening multilateral negotiations in the WTO.
Finally, a well-designed TPP Agreement has the potential to improve regulatory coherence among the parties and to improve supply chain competitiveness.
These are the standards by which we intend to carefully review the results of these negotiations in the days and weeks ahead.