The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) faces an uphill battle to ratification. Even before the government shutdown was on the radar, many considered TPP as one of the most ambitious trade negotiations the United States has ever attempted. TPP aims to establish free trade standards between the US and eleven other countries at varying levels of development. Together,  these TPP countries account for 45 percent of American goods exports. That is all fine, but what does it really mean for the average American? Whenever discussing trade policy, the dialogue often revolves around the aggregate benefit. To the average American, this is difficult to understand. Politicians and citizens need numbers they can easily digest in order to understand these ambitious trade negotiations.  

To make these benefits more tangible, Business Roundtable released a report titled “A TPP Agreement: An Opportunity for America.” This report follows a similar model to the Atlantic Council’s recently released “TTIP and the 50 States: Jobs and Growth from Coast to Coast,” which focused on the transatlantic agreement. Both reports examine how each of the fifty US states would benefit from a successful TPP agreement. They effectively bring the talking points down from 10,000 feet to main street.

TTIP and TPP are each attempting to redefine global trade standards, but comparing these two agreements is quite difficult. The majority of TTIP’s benefits lie in promoting transatlantic regulatory cooperation and coherence, while TPP aims to liberate trade with Pacific countries, principally through the removal of tariffs and increased market access.

The Business Roundtable report does an excellent job outlining how deeply each state is already linked to TPP countries, which existing tariffs most burden the state, and lists some top companies from each state who have strong existing trade and investment ties to TPP countries and are looking to expand.

Image: (Photo: Flickr/Laika Astral/CC License)