WASHINGTON – U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. today called on legislators to reauthorize the trade promotion authority, saying “the 110th Congress has an important opportunity to demonstrate bipartisan leadership and help to strengthen our economy.”
The TPA or “fast-track” authority allows the president to negotiate trade agreements that Congress must accept or reject without amendment, Bloomberg News said. If legislators do not act, it will expire at the end of this month.
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“America’s openness has made our economy the most vibrant and dynamic in the world,” Paulson said in his statement. “To keep our economy strong and competitive, we must continue to push forward on the trade agenda. …
“Trade fosters the environment of innovation and research that leads to better goods and services at lower prices, which in turn helps Americans provide for their families,” he said, adding: “Americans benefit from open markets here at home and open markets abroad for our exports.”
Therefore, he said, “Together with my colleagues in the administration, we will fight to keep markets open.”
Fast-track began in 1974. The theory is that lack of congressional interference will encourage other countries to negotiate, knowing the administration can stand behind its agreements, Bloomberg said. But it hasn’t always worked that way, and some say the rules have outlived their usefulness.
“It would be a very good thing to have fast track expire,” Thomas Palley, founder of the Washington-based Economics for Democratic & Open Societies Project and critic of current U.S. trade pacts, told Bloomberg News. “Fast-track sets up a policy process that is uneven and favorable to corporate interests by limiting congressional oversight.”
Lawmakers and lobbyists have told Bloomberg News that the collapse of World Trade Organization talks over a new global agreement leaves President George W. Bush without a lever to prod Congress to renew the authority. The last time fast-track authority lapsed, during the Clinton administration, it took more than seven years to renew it.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr.’s full statement regarding the Trade Promotion Authority can be viewed at www.treas.gov.
