“This is our last chance. If we don’t seize it, Japan will be left out,” declared Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Able in a televised address last Friday, calling for his country’s support in joining the U.S. and 10 other parties in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations.
The American Chemistry Council is among several business groups that would welcome Japan to the TPP talks. Here are 3 reasons why.
- Japan’s inclusion would generate significant new commercial benefits from the TPP. Japan is one of the top five markets for U.S. chemical exports, and Japan’s entry into the TPP would provide an opportunity to eliminate remaining chemical tariffs and address non-tariff barriers to trade.
- An ambitious partnership among 12 TPP parties, including Japan, the world’s third largest economy, would create a trade bloc with GDP more than 40 percent larger than that of the 27-nation European Union — and provide important new market access opportunities for U.S. chemical manufacturers.
- The inclusion of Japan in the TPP would expand the Japanese economy by at least $33 billion, or 0.7 percent, according to government estimates, while helping to create a regional free trade zone which would give a major boost to growth and job creation.
A robust, agile U.S. trade agenda is essential to U.S. economic expansion and job growth. That’s why ACC supports a high-standard, comprehensive, and ambitious TPP that would eliminate remaining chemical tariffs on entry into force, reduce non-tariff barriers, and address commercially strategic trade issues such as trade facilitation and regulatory coherence.
The global market for chemistry is intensely competitive, and the advancement of comprehensive and commercially meaningful free trade agreements such as the TPP would provide a significant boost for U.S. chemical manufacturers, which are already amongst the most competitive in the world thanks to increased supplies of low cost shale gas.
American chemistry is also one of the nation’s largest exporting sectors, with nearly $189 billion in exports in 2012, accounting for 12 percent of all U.S exports.
