Dive Brief:

• In an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” UPS Chairman and CEO David Abney said the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would benefit American businesses, especially small and medium-size companies. 

• Abney predicted the agreement would increase U.S. exports by 20% while slashing tariffs and overseas trade bureaucracy. 

• Supported by the Obama Administration, the TPP agreement must still be ratified by Congress, and has become a political football in the presidential election, with both major party candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump saying they are opposed to the deal.

Dive Insight:

With President Obama announcing late last week that the TPP is headed to Congress, UPS CEO David Abney expressed his support for the deal, saying it would benefit American businesses of all stripes. 

UPS is lobbying Congress to approve the TPP. The agreement could pass through the lame duck session after the election — despite opposition by Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

"We believe that sometime this year would be the best chance to get this approved," Abney told Reuters. "I'm not going to say it's the only chance, but we think it’s the best chance."

If ultimately approved, the TPP will gradually reduce — and in some cases eliminate — tariffs and promote trade between the U.S. and Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. The list of countries doesn’t include China, with the agreement seen by many as an antidote to China’s dominance in Asia.

President Obama and proponents of the TPP argue that opening these markets in Asia — home to a significant portion of the world’s population, an increasingly growing middle class, and some 40% of the world economy — will open new markets for American goods. Opponents say the deal will negatively impact American workers and drive down wages.  

Because of its Asia focus, the TPP will have a significant impact on apparel retailers. Analysts say U.S. apparel and footwear companies sourcing their merchandise from countries that benefit from the TPP's “yarn forward” and “cut and sew” provisions — which require that signatories must have a certain percentage of raw materials sourced from within the country where they’re made — could in turn benefit by cutting costs and speeding up the supply chain.

But it could also affect all retailers that hope to increase sales to Asia, especially smaller retailers challenged by the current export process. The TPP would make exporting goods easier, with Abney predicting that total U.S. exports would rise by 20% under the deal. 

"We are part of a global economy. We're not reversing that," President Obama said last week, underscoring what he sees as the importance of the agreement to U.S. jobs.  "The notion that we're going to pull that up root and branch is unrealistic.”