Vietnam agrees to U.S. terms on labor rights in trade deal
WASHINGTON — The Communist government in Vietnam has agreed to U.S. terms to grant potentially far-reaching labor rights to the country’s workers, including the freedom to unionize and to strike, in return for expanded trade between the former adversaries, according to the newly released text of a vast Pacific trade agreement.
Those terms were disclosed early Thursday, along with all 30 chapters and side agreements that make up the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a pact reached a month ago by 12 Pacific Rim nations that would be the largest regional trade accord ever. The agreement would end most tariffs and other trade barriers among countries that account for 40 percent of the global economy.
With the release of the text, Congress begins months of review and then debate. Votes for approval in the House and Senate next spring are likely to be close.
For President Barack Obama, the effort to sell the potentially legacy-making agreement may be the last big battle of his tenure. He will have to rely mostly on Republican votes, while holding on to support from the few Democratic allies willing to confront organized labor and other liberal groups that are skeptical about trade globalization.
“We have a whole-ofgovernment, whole-ofWhite House effort underway,” said Michael Froman, Obama’s trade representative, who has negotiated the voluminous agreement since 2009.
The White House posted the text of the deal on Medium, a social media sharing website, and Obama described the agreement as a “new type of trade deal that puts American workers first.”
In a statement from the White House on Thursday morning, Obama praised the deal’s high labor standards, its reduction of tariffs and its benefits for American workers.
“It eliminates 18,000 taxes that various countries put on American goods,” Obama said. “That will boost Made-in-America exports abroad while supporting higher-paying jobs right here at home. And that’s going to help our economy grow.”
Obama said the full text of the agreement should help to build support for the deal in Congress.
Opponents of the trade accord — on the political left and the Tea Party right, as well as some business leaders — will also step up their efforts after holding their fire pending the release of the full agreement. Lawmakers who have withheld judgment will come under renewed pressure to take sides.
The Obama administration is hoping that the accord’s labor protections, along with separate bilateral labor and human rights agreements between the U.S. and Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, will help persuade some Democrats to back the deal. The administration is especially eager to promote the agreement with Vietnam.
Trade between the United States and Vietnam has grown significantly since formal trade relations began in 2001, and so has U.S. investment in Vietnam.