Nike promises more US investment and jobs to back Obama on TPP

President Barack Obama on Friday took his case for a wide-reaching Pacific Rim trade deal to Oregon where he stressed at Nike headquarters that the US must make sure it did not allow China to write the rules of global trade.

The president was visiting Nike on a campaign to build support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, as he presses Congress to give him the "fast-track" powers required to close the 12-country trade and investment deal.

Mr Obama pushed back against critics of the TPP, saying he disagreed with people who said America should not engage countries with unfair trade rules.

"We have to make sure America writes the rules of the global economy and we should do it today while our economy is in a position of global strength," Mr Obama said. "If we don't write the rules for trade around the world, guess what, China will. And they'll write those rules in a way that gives Chinese workers and Chinese businesses the upper hand."

Critics lashed out at Mr Obama's visit to Nike, claiming the Oregon-based footwear company symbolises the worst of globalisation and US trade policy. Nike mostly manufactures overseas and has previously been criticised for labour and human rights violations by some of its suppliers. Workers at a big Nike supplier called Yue Yuen in China went on strike over pension plans last year, in what was the biggest labour dispute in the country in decades.

In a bid to counter that criticism and boost the case for the TPP, Nike unveiled plans ahead of Mr Obama's visit to expand manufacturing operations in the US if the trade push succeeds.

Nike vowed to accelerate plans to expand "advanced footwear manufacturing" in the US if Congress gave Mr Obama "fast-track" authority to close negotiations with Japan and 10 other economies. That move, it said, would create 10,000 new manufacturing and engineering jobs in the US over the next decade and as many as 40,000 others in related industries.

Mark Palmer, Nike chief executive, said the company believed that "agreements that encourage free and fair trade allow Nike to do what we do best: innovate, expand our businesses and drive economic growth".

Nike employs 26,000 people in the US and manufactures soles for trainers in Oregon and Missouri. It said the 10,000 jobs would be created by Nike and its suppliers. The company said the capital for the new investment would come from the benefits of lower tariffs secured via the TPP.

"We are a global company and we pay duties around the world. Lowering duties frees up capital to invest and innovate. When we invest and innovate we create jobs," a Nike spokesman said.

The move comes ahead of what are expected to be divisive votes on trade in the coming days in Congress where many of Mr Obama's Democrats are opposing his push for the TPP and fast-track authority.

Mitch McConnell, Republican majority leader in the senate, on Thursday moved to schedule a vote as soon as Tuesday on what is formally called Trade Promotion Authority, setting up a clash with Democrats who have vowed to try to block the bill.

The House of Representatives is likely to follow with a vote shortly afterwards. But there too Mr Obama is relying on Republican support with the vast majority of Democrats likely to vote against the bill.

Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, criticised both Mr Obama and Nike over its announcement.

"The American jobs Nike claims it aims to create are a drop in the bucket compared to the massive number of jobs that would be lost nationwide if the TPP is enacted because it gives companies incentives to offshore," Public Citizen said in a statement. "It's like saying let's take one step forward, and 10,000 steps back."

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