CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2013–2014 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Joint Resolution
No. 16
Introduced by Senators Emmerson, Berryhill, DeSaulnier, Liu, Steinberg, Walters, and Wright
|
August 19, 2013 |
Relative to trade relations with Europe.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SJR 16, as introduced, Emmerson.
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.
This measure would urge the President and United States Senate to negotiate and ratify, respectively, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement with the European Union.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee:
NO WHEREAS, The United States and the European Union are each other’s largest trading and investment partners. The United States and European Union economies combined account for nearly half the entire world Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and for nearly a third of the world’s trade flows. The United States possesses 21.6 percent of the world’s GDP and the European Union possesses 25.1 percent of the world’s GDP; and
WHEREAS, The transatlantic relationship between the United States and European Union also defines the shape of the global economy as a whole. Either the United States or the European Union is the largest trade and investment partner for almost all other countries in the global economy; and
WHEREAS, Each day, goods and services worth $2.7 billion are traded between the United States and European Union, promoting economic growth and supporting millions of jobs in both economies. The United States and European Union have directly invested more than $3.7 trillion on both sides of the Atlantic; and
WHEREAS, The United States is comprised of 315 million inhabitants, and the European Union is comprised of 508 million inhabitants; and
WHEREAS, Total United States investment in the European Union is three times higher than in all of Asia, while European Union investment in the United States is around eight times the amount of European Union investment in India and China together; and
WHEREAS, A successfully negotiated Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement would boost economic growth in both the United States and European Union and would greatly add to the over 13 million American and European jobs already supported by transatlantic trade and investment; and
WHEREAS, Estimates predict that a landmark TTIP agreement between the United States and European Union could have enormous benefits, with up to 2 percent or $650 billion of additional GDP on both sides. Early findings indicate that the TTIP agreement would increase California exports to the European Union by up to 25 percent and create 65,000 new California jobs; and
WHEREAS, Ratification of the TTIP agreement would benefit the United States and European Union trade relationship by doing all of the following:
(a) Further opening markets to grow the $459 billion in United States goods and services exports to the European Union - the largest export market for the United States.
(b) Strengthening rules-based investment to grow the world’s largest investment relationship.
(c) Seeking to both eliminate all tariffs on trade, and tackle costly nontariff barriers that impede the flow of goods and services trade.
(d) Seeking to significantly cut the cost of differences in regulation and standards by promoting greater compatibility, transparency and cooperation.
(e) Promoting the global competitiveness of small- and medium-sized enterprises; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature urge the President of the United States and the United States Senate to respectively negotiate and ratify the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, to each Senator from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the author for appropriate distribution.