The Obama Administration has formally proposed tobacco carve-out language in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a provision that would single out a specific agricultural product and strip it of rights afforded to all other agricultural products in the trade agreement.
 
“By carving out tobacco from the TPP, the Obama Administration is discriminating against an entire agricultural commodity, setting a dangerous precedent for future trade agreements,” said Senator Tillis. “Congress granted the President trade promotion authority with the mutual understanding his Administration would negotiate trade deals in good faith. It did not vote to give the Administration the freedom to indiscriminately choose when fairness should be applied and when it should be ignored. Trade agreements should not be laboratories for setting partisan policies and picking winners and losers. If any carve-out is ultimately included in the TPP, I will work hard to help defeat its ratification.”
 
“Over the last seven years, this Administration has consistently picked winners and losers by rigging the rules in favor of the organizations and industries they like best,” said Senator Burr. “Agricultural trade is critical to our nation’s economy and every sector of that industry creates jobs across the board.  It is imperative that all of U.S. agriculture is treated fairly.”