Sens. Brown and Portman, Reps. Kaptur and Stivers Urge U.S. Trade Rep. to Maintain Protections for Ohio Glass Makers from Foreign Competition in Trade Agreements

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rob Portman (R-OH), and U.S. Reps. Marcy Kaptur (OH-9) and Steve Stivers (OH-15) urged the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to maintain protections for Ohio based glass tableware makers like Toledo’s Libbey Inc. and Lancaster’s Anchor Hocking Co. from foreign competitors in ongoing free trade zone negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreements.

“We urge your continued support for the domestic glass tableware industry’s import-sensitive treatment,” Brown, Portman, Kaptur, and Stivers said. “This issue is of crucial importance to workers in a number of states including Ohio, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania. The products of the domestic glassware production sector have been placed in the category of import-sensitive products for more than 30 years. This treatment, and the tariffs that are in place, recognize the sensitivity of the sector and the competitive pressures it faces. Now is not the time to deviate from treating the products of this sector in this manner particularly when our states urgently need more manufacturing production and job growth.”

The domestic glassware production sector has for decades been protected by its categorization as “import-sensitive” that makes it eligible for international trade protections like higher tariff enforcement. This is now at risk as the Administration negotiates terms of the TPP and TTIP agreements with its foreign partners.

Libbey Inc. was founded in 1888 in Toledo which is known as the “Glass City” for its leadership and innovation in the glass making industry. The Anchor Hocking Co. was founded in 1905 in Lancaster and was Fairfield County’s second largest employer in 2012. 

TPP is a proposed trade agreement that currently includes the United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. TTIP is a proposed trade agreement between the United States and the European Union (EU) that began its first round of negotiations in July.

Congress has the constitutional authority to set the terms of trade and commerce with foreign nations. The Administration is conducting the TPP and TTIP talks under the leadership of the Office of the USTR, using authority which officially lapsed in 2007. This suggests that it will seek renewed Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), known as “Fast Track,” to conclude TPP and TTIP negotiations, as well as other trade initiatives.

In 2011, Brown authored and Portman voted for the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act, bipartisan legislation which would use U.S. trade law to counter the economic harm to U.S. manufacturers caused by currency manipulation and would provide consequences for countries that fail to adopt appropriate policies to eliminate currency misalignment.

Brown, Portman, Kaptur, and Stivers were joined on their bipartisan letter to USTR Michael Froman by U.S. Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), David Vitter (R-LA), and Bob Casey (D-PA), and U.S. Rep. John Fleming (LA-4). That letter can be read in its entirety below:

December 11, 2013

The Honorable Michael Froman

United States Trade Representative

600 17th Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20508

Dear Ambassador Froman:

We are writing to you concerning the rules of origin and market access provisions relating to the glass tableware sector in the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations. 

We urge your continued support for the domestic glass tableware industry’s import-sensitive treatment. This issue is of crucial importance to workers in a number of states including Ohio, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania. The products of the domestic glassware production sector have been placed in the category of import-sensitive products for more than 30 years. This treatment, and the tariffs that are in place, recognize the sensitivity of the sector and the competitive pressures it faces. Now is not the time to deviate from treating the products of this sector in this manner particularly when our states urgently need more manufacturing production and job growth.

Libbey Inc. has U.S. glassware manufacturing locations in Toledo, Ohio and Shreveport, Louisiana. It filed timely detailed comments with your office on February 15, 2012 regarding TPP rules of origin for Glass Tableware (HTS 7013), Glass Stoppers (HTS 7010.20), and Glass Lamps and Lighting Fittings (HTS 9405) that should guide your negotiators in their activities. Subsequently, it filed timely detailed comments with your office regarding the TTIP negotiations relating to these same HTS numbers. Libbey’s concerns are shared by Anchor Hocking Co., another glass tableware manufacturer that employs 1,600 workers in Lancaster, Ohio and Monaca, Pennsylvania.

Libbey and Anchor Hocking join in urging that the TPP and TTIP rules of origin for the listed glassware products should be objective, transparent, predictable, and effective in limiting preferential tariff treatment to goods that are formed, finished, and packaged in TPP and TTIP countries. In addition, the TPP and TTIP market access negotiations should account for the import-sensitivity of these products, placing these products in the category eligible for the longest phase-out periods and eligible, as appropriate, for non-linear phase-out treatment. The TPP and TTIP should be a force for progress that maximizes production and employment opportunities in the signatory countries while recognizing the specific trade posture of individual industries.

We look forward to working with you on this issue of importance to American workers in this sector, which fuels economic growth in our states and creates family-supportive jobs for the companies and workers.

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