After reviewing the just-released text of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal Rosemary Jenks, NumbersUSA’s Government Relations Director, told Breitbart News “there is no question… that TPP impacts immigration in a massive way.” This is contrary to statements by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., prior to ascending to the speakership.
“The way we wrote TPP, it deals strictly with trade and not immigration,” Ryan said earlier this year, noting that the prospects of a relationship were “the latest urban legend.”
But Jenks’ review of TPP Chapters 10 – Cross Border Trade in Services -- and 12 -- Temporary Entry for Business Persons – found that both deal with the entry of foreign workers. Chapter 10 alone had 9 mentions of “immigration.” Jenks told Breitbart:
“When we say the TPP clearly impacts immigration, we’re saying that immigration is the entry of any foreign national into the United States whether on a visa or a visa waiver or a temporary basis or a permanent basis. Anytime a foreign national enters the United States that involves immigration. So, there is no question under my definition that TPP impacts immigration in a massive way.”
Jenks said the TPP will increase “the number of L-1 visas and the number of tourist visas, which can be used for business purposes.” There are no quotas on either visa category so their use will become favored under TPP. Jenks said:
“With TPP, service providing companies from Australia, Canada, Mexico, Malaysia…all of the other partner countries, can come into the United States and perform the service that they perform in their own country and essentially compete with and undermine the people in the United States and the companies in the United States that are already providing that service here…Chapter 10 is a massive impact on our economy through immigration because it means that not only foreign companies will be coming to the United States to compete with American companies, but those foreign companies can send in their foreign employees – they don’t have to hire Americans. They don’t have to pay American wages. They are sending their own employees to the United States to provide a service and compete with American workers and American companies that are already providing that service, so you’re going to displace American workers from jobs and you’re going to undercut wages by increasing the supply of services.”
Jenks also is concerned about the prospects for an international tribunal affecting immigration numbers. She said a TPP signatory can complain to a tribunal if they think the U.S. is not letting in enough workers from that country. This may result in dispute resolution that forces the U.S. to change its immigration laws.
“The tribunals that are set up are going to determine how it interprets the language of this TPP and how it should be applied,” Jenks told Breitbart. “So, whatever the U.S. thinks it signed on to may or may not be the case” since the tribunals will be in a position to force change. “I don’t think at the outset of signing this agreement we would have to change our immigration laws. I’m sure what will happen if this is agreed to, is that our immigration laws will be challenged…There’s no question that TPP sets up expectations that there will be virtually unfettered access to the United States for people and companies that provide services,” Jenks said.
Weighing in on TPP's release, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said, "At bottom, this is not a mere trade agreement. It bears the hallmarks of a nascent European Union. It is another step towards a world where people, goods, and services can travel freely across international boundaries – and a world where those boundaries mean less and less every day. Yet, because Fast-Track – or so-called Trade Promotion Authority – was adopted...we cannot amend this deal, we cannot filibuster this deal, and we cannot subject it to the two-thirds treaty vote. That is why I am calling today on our leaders to take the TPP off of the Fast-Track."
Read more in Breitbart News.
