Leading business lobbies praised lawmakers for reintroducing Trade Promotion Authority, legislation that would greatly ease the White House’s ability to get trade deals it negotiates through Congress. Liberal groups were outraged and vowed to try to undermine it.
“Trade is increasingly critical for the bottom lines of businesses of all sizes, but U.S. exports face higher tariffs and more barriers abroad than nearly any other major economy. Manufacturers need TPA to restore U.S. leadership in striking new trade deals that will knock down barriers so that manufacturers can improve their access to the world’s consumers,” said David Farr, National Association of Manufacturers’ vice chairman for international economic policy.
The Business Roundtable, which represents the chief executive officers of major U.S. companies, urged Congress to pass the legislation “as soon as possible,” arguing it was crucial to the growth of the economy. “Trade Promotion Authority strengthens the hands of U.S. negotiators and will help ensure the best possible outcome in…future trade deals,” said Tom Linebarger, chairman of the group’s international engagement committee.
We R Here, a coalition of online merchants, said the legislation was critical to gaining access to foreign markets. Phil Bond, the group’s executive director, said the legislation would “pressure other nations to overhaul outdated customs regimes, giving small exporters greater access to foreign markets with less costly red tape and fewer delays.”
Presidents from Gerald Ford through George W. Bush had Trade Promotion Authority, also known as “Fast Track,” before the legislation authorizing it expired in 2007. Fast Track prohibits Congress from amending any trade deals the White House negotiates. Instead, lawmakers are limited to a simple up-or-down vote.
Advocates say the legislation is crucial to the White House’s leverage in negotiations with foreign leaders. Without it, the president cannot provide assurances that any deal will stay intact when it goes before Congress. President Obama wants Fast Track passed before he submits the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-Pacific-Rim-nation trade deal, to Congress for approval.
Liberal groups are staunchly opposed, though. Labor organizations see the trade deals as a threat to American jobs, and environmental groups fear that Fast Track would allow for deals that strip protections for natural resources and would protect polluters.
“Members of Congress need to carefully evaluate the costs and consequences of trade deals on our economy and environment — not to haphazardly push pacts over the finish line,” said Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka warned that Congress was considering “speed[ing] through corporate-driven trade deals.”
Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, said the safeguards in the legislation meant to protect congressional authority were not strong enough, noting that the legislation can be rejected only in a floor vote. “In contrast, the 1988 Fast Track empowered either the House Ways and Means or the Senate Finance Committees to vote by simple majority to remove the pact from Fast Track consideration with no additional floor votes required.”
Jim Dean, chairman of the Howard Dean-founded group Democracy for America, warned that lawmakers would not be allowed to live down the vote. “Like a vote for the Iraq War or statements of support for the Social Security-cutting Bowles-Simpson plan, a vote for Fast Track and the TPP will never be forgotten and will haunt members of Congress for years to come.”
