Wilbur Ross, the banker-turned-investor and President-elect Trump’s pick to head Commerce Department, hinted at a Senate hearing Wednesday that Trump might use Trade Promotion Authority to speed trade deals through Congress.
He told the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Wednesday that TPA was “the law of the land” and declined to say that Trump would refrain from using it.
TPA, which was passed by the Republican-led Congress in 2015, prohibits lawmakers from amending trade deals negotiated by the White House and limits them to a simple yes or no vote. The legislation was staunchly criticized by free-trade critics, including most Democrats, who argued it served only to limit congressional oversight.
Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., asked if Trump, himself a trade critic, would use TPA to pass trade deals through Congress, including existing ones that he wants to renegotiate such as the North American Free Trade Agreement. Ross indicated the adminiatration would not rule that out. “That is a decision the president would have to make,” Ross said.
He then said that TPA is useful to reassure trade partners that the deals they negotiate with the White House would not be picked apart by Congress, an argument previously used the Obama administration and other supporters.
“So far, TPA is the law of the land and until there is some specific alternate proposed, I don’t think there is any real alternative to it,” Ross said.
