896,600 Reasons to Care About the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Japan's currency practices could wreck the TPP ... and good-paying American jobs.
Wednesday, February 4, 2015

U.S. trade and investment agreements have almost always resulted in growing trade deficits and job losses. Under the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement, growing trade deficits with Mexico cost 682,900 U.S. jobs as of 2010, and U.S.-Mexico trade deficits and job displacement have increased since then. President Obama promised that the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement would increase U.S. goods exports by between $10 billion and $11 billion, supporting 70,000 American jobs from increased exports alone. However, in the first two years after that deal went into effect, U.S. exports actually declined, and growing trade deficits with South Korea cost nearly 60,000 U.S. jobs. The U.S. trade deficit with South Korea continues to rise.

This is important to keep in mind as secret negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) continue, most recently in Washington and New York. The United States has a large and growing trade deficit with Japan and the 10 other countries in the proposed TPP. This deficit has increased from $110.3 billion in 1997 to an estimated $261.7 billion in 2014.

Additionally, several members of the proposed TPP deal are well known currency manipulators, including Malaysia, Singapore, and Japan. In fact, Japan is the world’s second largest currency manipulator, behind China. The United States should not sign a trade and investment deal with these countries that does not include strong prohibitions on currency manipulation. Yet U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman has testified that currency manipulation has not been discussed in the TPP negotiations (McCormack 2014).
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http://www.epi.org/publication/currency-manipulation-and-the-896600-u-s-jobs-lost-due-to-the-u-s-japan-trade-deficit/

Takeaways

1. The US trade deficit with Japan displaced 896,000 American jobs in 2013.

2 .Each of the 50 states and the states and the District of Columbia lost jobs due to the trade deficit with Japan in 2013.

3. Congress and the Administration have the power to penalize Japan’s currency manipulation in the proposed TPP.

http://www.americanmanufacturing.org/research/entry/896600-reasons-to-care-about-the-trans-pacific-partnership-tpp

Congress: Stop Currency Cheating to Save Middle Class Jobs

Nearly 900,000 U.S. jobs were lost in 2013 due to America’s growing trade deficit with Japan. Even more jobs could disappear if the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with Japan and 10 other nations is approved without a provision to prevent currency manipulation. Tell Congress to take action to guarantee a level playing field for American workers and businesses by ensuring currency manipulation is stopped in the TPP.

http://action.americanmanufacturing.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=9903