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 The setting - Nike's headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon - was an
unusual one for a presidential trade pitch.
Nike has long faced criticism for using Asian sweat shops to produce
its pricey footwear. But the company has worked to improve
conditions overseas and said on Friday it would also boost
investment in U.S. manufacturing if the 12-nation Trans Pacific
Partnership (TPP) pact is approved.
Obama used that promise of new jobs to try to convince skeptical
lawmakers from his own party to support TPP and join Republicans in
granting him "fast-track" authority to finalize the deal.
Many Democrats are concerned the proposed pact would help companies
move operations to cheaper offshore facilities.
"On trade, I actually think some of my dearest friends are wrong.
They're just wrong," Obama said at Nike headquarters. "If we don't
write the rules for trade around the world, guess what: China will."
He added, "Just do it, everybody."
SHOES FROM VIETNAM
Before the trip, White House aides had been coy about why Obama
chose such a controversial backdrop for his speech. An
administration official said Nike had approached the White House
about the trade deal and that led to Obama's appearance there.
Labor and environmental groups protested Obama's appearance at Nike
and said the company's job-creating claims were vague.
"We have heard similar promises from companies before, and very few
have panned out," said Eric Hauser, a spokesman for the AFL-CIO, the
nation's largest labor coalition.
Nike has 26,000 U.S. employees, but it counts on more than 1 million
workers in contract factories worldwide to make its shoes, some of
which sell for hundreds of dollars. A third of those factories are
in Vietnam, a TPP participant.
Almost all footwear sold in the United States is made overseas and
is subject to import tariffs that average 25 percent to 35 percent,
according to the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, a
shoe dealer's group.
For shoes imported from TPP countries, notably Vietnam, U.S. firms
paid $400 million in tariffs in 2014, the group said.
Nike said relief from "antiquated" footwear tariffs in the TPP deal
would allow it to invest more money at home. In addition to 10,000
U.S. manufacturing and engineering jobs, it promised as many as
40,000 additional jobs would pop up in its domestic supply chain if
an agreement were reached.
"Free trade opens doors. It removes barriers. It creates jobs," Nike
Chief Executive Mark Parker told the crowd ahead of Obama's speech
in Beaverton, seven miles from Portland.
When asked, Nike offered few details on, for instance, whether it
would build new plants, how soon new jobs could come on line, how
much money workers might be paid, or what kind of shoes could be
produced in the United States.
A Nike spokesman said in an email that it was "too early for us to
say specifically where we will invest, but it will be a significant
investment over the next decade."
The White House declined to provide additional details, referring
questions to Nike.
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MORE LOBBYING EXPENSE
In the past two years, Nike has ramped up its lobbying efforts as
debate over the trade treaty has intensified.
The company nearly tripled its lobbying spending to more than $1.1
million in 2014 from $400,000 in 2012, according to data collected
by the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington campaign finance
and lobbying research group.
Nike multibillionaire co-founder Philip Knight is Oregon’s richest
person and leans Republican, though he has donated money over the
years to both parties, including more than $85,000 to Republican
congressional committees in 2013 and 2014, according to federal
records analyzed by the center.
Knight has also given money to Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, a key
supporter along with Republicans of giving Obama "fast-track"
authority to negotiate the TPP deal.
Under the deal's terms, Obama said Vietnam is one country that would
be forced to improve its labor standards, set a minimum wage, and
protect workers' rights to unionize.
"It would be good for the workers in Vietnam even as it helps make
sure that they're not undercutting competition here in the United
States," he said.
The TPP would also help more companies move advanced manufacturing
to the United States, Obama added.
But despite anecdotal evidence that some companies are shifting
production back to the U.S., economic data suggest America's
production lines rely more than ever on suppliers from low-wage
countries.
"The data clearly show no sign of reshoring," said University of
Munich economist Dalia Marin, in a detailed analysis published in
November.
Lori Wallach of Public Citizen, a government watchdog group, said
labor standards in the TPP were too weak, pointing to a U.S.
Government Accountability Office study that found similar standards
in trade deals with Peru, Colombia, Panama and Korea had failed to
improve labor conditions in those countries.
(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Howard Schneider, Jason
Lange and Krista Hughes in Washington; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh,
Kieran Murray and Christian Plumb)
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