By: Kevin Trainor/Managing Editor
Teruko Wada was leading an impressive looking delegation of Japanese business leaders through the halls of a senate office building. Impressive in their singularity of appearance. Twelve to fourteen representatives of various manufacturing firms, and industry consultants, going door-to-door from one senator’s office to another. Like an economic trick-or-treat on the day before Halloween. This was not a political pilgrimage. It was about business. Money. Participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, (TPP), by the United States had been cancelled in the very early days of the Trump Administration. It was cited as being a threat to American jobs as it would serve as a lure for U.S. firms to jump overseas for cheaper operation costs. This, the opinion of those against it. This argument would carry the day. It was an agreement the U.S. had signed on to during the Obama Administration’s second term. In Asia, it was known as TPP 12. Now, TPP 11. As a matter of fact, the Japanese Industry Federation has encouraged the remaining eleven countries in the partnership to go along as usual. They simply believe, according to a Japanese industry evaluation, that the United States will return to the agreement sometime in the future. It is anticipated that the winds of public opinion will shift. The Asians play long ball.
Ms. Wada’s delegation left Senator Ted Cruz’s office. He, the erstwhile Republican presidential candidate, back to doing the business of the people of Texas in the senate. Interestingly, his office on the fourth floor of the Russell Senate Office Building, is the only one NoViewNews has seen with a U.S. Capitol Police guard posted outside. It is also conveniently located just a few steps from where the nightly stand-ups of the news networks originate live from the senate side of the Hill. Senator Cruz may have opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but he certainly believes in investment in the Lone Star State. That is a big part of the job. The Japanese business delegation is interested in fostering side agreements with the United States outside of TPP. Bi-lateral. It is trade the old school way. Texas benefits too. Much of the south did when trade initiatives of other countries brought a tide of investment into the mainly union free, “right to work” states starting back in the 1980’s. BMW’s in Spartanburg, S.C., and Saturn cars in Tennessee.
This is safe economics. Everybody wants jobs here, and no one wants them going away there. Great Britain will be doing a lot of this after they fully leave the European Union in the next few years. It is a preferred way of trade today. It’s pre-NAFTA. The pendulum swings. The delegation moves on down the halls. The expressionless faces of the gaggle of executives tips off that the senate rounds Ms. Wada is leading is more of a meet and greet. No new proposals today, but seeds planted in fertile grounds. Republican offices are the big draw. Ms. Wada knows where to go. Off to Senator Richard Burr’s office two floors down. He, one of the two Republicans representing the Tar Heel State. North Carolina is bullish on foreign investment. Senator Burr has strong ties to the eastern counties of the state, and they have seen overseas investment flourish. Ink still wet on paper regarding matters of poultry, and tobacco. No matter your political stripe it is all appreciated back home. Also good business. Such trade deals are because of the affordability, bang for the buck, foreign investors get thanks to relatively lower costs. This makes it easy to keep North Carolinian industry union free. Opponents will argue the merit, and point to the bottom line.
The delegation eschews the elevators and stretches out its spread between two floors on the marble stairs. It is a lot of work for Ms. Wada, an attorney from New York retained by the business federation group from Japan. Not just translating the legalese, but translating period. She is a senior manager of the international affairs bureau of the firm Keidanren. They represent many Japanese business interests; based in Tokyo, with offices in New York, and Washington.
This is what happens off the floor of the upper chamber. That gets the play. The speeches on C-Span, debate, vote tallies. The day to day business of the U.S. Senate is surprisingly non-political. It is practical. It is serving the people of the respective states, and also serving the interests of corporate entities who have paid for a say. Not illegal. It is what goes on. No one is talking about the fray of divisive opinion, the eruption of passion amongst the body politic. The business of the senate is thus. Save the passion for the lower chamber on the other side of the Hill. That was the plan from the beginning.
Now, Teruko Wada’s plan is to get the delegation on to the bus parked on the south side of the Russell building on Delaware Ave, NW. Then to the hotel. After which she’ll likely lose the shoes, and put her feet up after a long day on those marble floors.
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