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. 6 of 2016

TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2016

Filed from Portland, Oregon

Click here for the last TTALK Quote, which was from President Obama.

TURNBULL AND A TPP CONTEXT

"We live in the most exciting time in human history. ...

"It is remarkable to see, to imagine why Americans would ever be fearful of open markets. You know, the United States has created globalisation. The United States, the ingenuity, the entrepreneurship of American companies has created the Digital World. The technologies that supercharged this prosperity were written and directed in the United States. There is, everywhere else in the world where people are concerned about globalisation; they are concerned about the United States. Why would Americans be afeared?"

Malcolm Turnbull
January 19, 2016

CONTEXT

This is the 26th of January. It is Australia Day, and like the Fourth of July it is celebrated on the same date every year, regardless of the day of the week. We are not precisely sure what Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's schedule is or was for Australia Day (it is already the 27th Down Under), but we're pretty sure he is home. Last Tuesday, however, he was in Washington, where one of his first appointments was a breakfast meeting at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Today's featured quotes are from Mr. Turnbull's remarks at that breakfast.

It was a fitting venue - the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world's largest business association - is a strong supporter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, TPP. So is Australia, and Prime Minister Turnbull's breakfast presentation was largely, though not exclusively, about the need to move forward and get TPP approved and implemented.

At the outset, the Prime Minister said he knew that "TPP is a controversial issue in this city," but he said:

"When I'm speaking to some of your legislators later today, I'll be encouraging them to support the TPP. Not to lose sight of the woods for the trees, not to get lost in this detail or that detail or that compromise, because the big picture is: the rules-based international order, which America has underwritten for generations, which has underwritten the prosperity and the economic growth from which we have all benefitted, the TPP is a key element in that."

COMMENT

Even at this distance, it's clear that Prime Minister Turnbull had a very full program last week and filled each unforgiving minute with more than sixty seconds worth of distance run. On Monday, Martin Luther King Day, he spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. On Tuesday, he was at the Chamber and on the Hill. Later that day, he was at the White House for a meeting with President Obama.

With apologies for the oversimplification, one could say that at the CSIS, Mr. Turnbull talked about security. Having just visited Afghanistan and Iraq, security issues were very much on his mind. At the Chamber, he talked about TPP. And in his brief statement at the White House he forcefully put them all together. There he said:

"TPP is much more than a trade deal. The prosperity of the world, the security of the world has been founded on the peace and order in the Asia Pacific, which has been delivered, underwritten by the United States and its allies, including Australia."

The unmistakable message: If TPP is approved and implemented, that anchor of security will be strengthened, both by the fact of the agreement and by the growing web of commercial relationships that will flow from it. And if TPP is not approved? That too will have consequences for security, the first of which will be a blow to business confidence, and hence to the growth outlook for the region and the world.

***

Finally, of all the things Prime Minister Turnbull talked about while he was in Washington, the one we must regret omitting here is China. "Regret" is perhaps the wrong word. It's on the to-do list.

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!

SOURCES & LINKS

Prime Minister Turnbull at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce takes you to the transcript of Prime Minister Turnbull's remarks at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on January 19, which was the source for featured today's quotes.

Prime Minister Turnbull at CSIS is the text of his remarks on January 18 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Prime Minister Turnbull with Ernest Bower. This is Prime Minister Turnbull's exchange with Ernest Bower of CSIS on January 18. Mr. Bower is the Chair for South Asian Studies and the co-director of the Pacific Partners program as CSIS.

Joint Remarks of President Obama and Prime Minister Turnbull, Jan.19. This takes you to remarks of these two leaders just before their Oval Office meeting.

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R. K. Morris, Editor