THE TTALK QUOTES

On Global Trade & Investment

Published Three Times a Week By

The Global Business Dialogue, Inc.

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Email: Comments@gbdinc.org

No. 7 of 2015

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2015

Filed from Portland, Oregon

Click here for Monday's quote from Tom Jensen of UPS.

BECAUSE OF THE PROBLEMS IN THE WEST COAST PORTS

"In the short term, Washington apple and pear growers have lost an estimated $70 million in sales. In the long term, they are worried about the loss of business [generally]."

Rep. Dave Reichert

January 27, 2015

CONTEXT

Trade was high on Congress's agenda yesterday, and the U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Michael Froman, was a busy man. In the morning he appeared before the Senate Finance Committee in their hearing on the U.S. trade agenda, and in the afternoon he was the sole witness at the House Ways and Means Committee's hearing on the same issue. The normal headline topics-Trade Promotion Authority, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and other pending agreements-were all discussed at great length. But there was another issue that several members asked about: namely, the growing chaos in the West Coast ports.

The first to raise it was Congressman Dave Reichert, a Republican from the State of Washington. In discussing the plight of some of his constituents, he said one grower in his district, the 8th, "has laid off 200 employees out of 1,000," with more layoffs still to come if the ports do not quickly return to normal operations. "Simply put," Mr. Reichert said, "the longer these negotiations [at the ports] continue, the greater the impact on the economy and the American workers."

And he was far from the only Ways and Means Committee member to touch on the crisis in the West Coast ports. Others who raised the issue were:

Rep. Mike Thompson, a Democrat from California's 1st Congressional District, including Napa Valley, said:

"We can do all the trade agreements in the world, [but] if we can't get what we make on the boats and get it overseas, it's not going to help us much."

Rep. Adrian Smith, a Republican from Nebraska's 3rd Congressional District-essentially Western Nebraska-talked about beef and pork intended for export that end up spoiling stateside because of the dispute at the ports.

Rep. Kristi Noem, a Republican from South Dakota, talked about the issue, as did...

Rep. George Holding, a Republican from North Carolina's oddly-shaped 13th Congressional District. He said:

"Even us in North Carolina are impacted by this. Our pork products are being delayed; and we've even developed specialty pork products for Asia, for that market."

COMMENT

Congressman Reichert's constituents are right to worry about the long-term impact of the current imbroglio at the ports. That issue was squarely addressed by those who spoke at last week's GBD event on the ports. One of those was Peter Friedmann, Executive Director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition. Mr. Friedmann pointed out a simple truth and then reminded the audience of what had happened to California almond producers after the shut-down of the West Coast Ports in 2002. His simple truth was this:

"There is nothing we produce in agriculture or forest products in this country that cannot be sourced somewhere else in the world."

Among other things, America produces almonds. California almonds are regarded as the finest in the world, long prized by, among others, Japanese candy makers. But, when the West Coast ports were closed in 2002, those candy makers turned elsewhere for their almonds. They turned to Turkey. And for many of them now, Turkey is still their principal supplier.

Robyn Boerstling is the Director for Transportation and Infrastructure Policy at the National Association of Manufacturers. She too was a speaker at last week's GBD event on "Trade Facilitation in America," and the issue of U.S. producers as reliable suppliers was at the top of her agenda. She began by reading a message from a customer in Asia to a U.S. manufacturer, one of her members. Minus the names of the parties, this was the message:

"Good Afternoon Pacific Northwest Manufacturer:

"Please cancel this order. Because customer XYZ needs this order delivered to Taiwan on March 15, on time, they are concerned that West Coast sailing times remain delayed and plan to buy from another supplier to replace this order.

"Best regards,"

She ended with a famous quote from Ben Franklin:

"It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it."

That makes the point effectively enough. For those whose tastes run more to 20th (or 21st) Century lines, we recommend the Lyle Lovett song with the refrain:

"One bad move can turn your world upside down
It's such a shame 'cause you've been so good up to now."

***

If you are an apple grower in Washington, the real shame is that, with respect to that bad move-the labor dispute at West Coast ports-there wasn't a damn thing you could have done about it.

SOURCES & LINKS

From the Ways and Means Hearing is a link to a Library of Congress video of the Committee's January 27 hearing on the U.S. Trade Policy Agenda. This recording that was the source for today's quote.

GBD. This link takes you to the welcome page of the Global Business Dialogue. Under "Recent Postings," you will find audio recordings for the remarks of both Peter Friedmann and Robyn Boerstling at GBD's January 22 colloquium "Trade Facilitation in America: The Shifting Dynamics of Supply Chains, Ports, and Labor Disputes."

Taft Hartley Invoked is a link to a New York Times article of October 9, 2002, with the headline "President Invokes Taft-Hartley Act to Open 29 Ports." We cite it here as a means of providing some background to the 2002 lockout mentioned in the Comment section above.

SOURCES & LINKS

From the Ways and Means Hearing is a link to a Library of Congress video of the Committee's January 27 hearing on the U.S. Trade Policy Agenda. This recording was the source for today's quote.

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R. K. Morris, Editor