Fast track (trade)

The Fast track negotiating authority (also called Trade Promotion Authority, TPA) for trade agreements is the authority of the President of the United States to negotiate agreements that the Congress can approve or disapprove but cannot amend or filibuster. Fast-track negotiating authority is granted to the president by Congress. It was in effect pursuant to the Trade Act of 1974 from 1975 to 1994 and was restored in 2002 by the Trade Act of 2002. It expired at midnight on July 1, 2007.

Enactment and history

The laws that create fast track appear in sections 151 through 154 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended. (USPL|93|618, §§ 151-154; USStat|88|1978, 2001-08; USC|19|2191-2194.) Sections 2103 through 2105 of the Trade Act of 2002 extended and conditioned their application. (USPL|107|210, §§ 2103-2105; USStat|116|933, 1004-16; USC|19|3803-3805.)

Congress enacted fast track in the Trade Act of 1974. Pursuant to that grant of authority, Congress then enacted implementing legislation for the Trade Agreements Act of 1979, the United States-Israel Free Trade Area, the United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA). The authority then expired in 1994.

Presidential candidate George W. Bush made fast track an integral part of his campaign platform in 2000. In May, 2001, as president he made a key speech about the critical importance of free trade at the annual Council of the Americas in New York, founded by David Rockefeller and other senior US businessmen in 1965. Subsequently, the Council played an integral role in the implementtion and securing of TPA through Congress. [Council of the Americas role in securing the TPA - see David Rockefeller's "Memoirs", 2002, (p.438).]

At 3:30 am on July 27, 2002, the House passed the Trade Act of 2002 narrowly by a [http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2002/roll370.xml 215 to 212 vote] with 190 Republicans and 27 Democrats making up the majority. The bill passed the Senate by a [http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=107&session=2&vote=00207 vote of 64 to 34] on August 1, 2002.

Under the second period of fast-track authority, Congress enacted implementing legislation for the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement, the United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, the United States-Australia Free Trade Agreement, the United States-Morocco Free Trade Agreement, the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement, the United States-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement, and the United States-Oman Free Trade Agreement. Various other agreements may come to Congress under fast track, notably: the Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (Peru ratified on 28 June 2006), the Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (President Bush notified Congress of his intent to ratify this agreement on 24 August 2006), a potential agreement with South Korea (the fourth round of talks is scheduled for Oct. 23-27), a potential agreement with Malaysia (the first round of talks were held in June 2006), and the US-Thailand Free Trade Agreement (on which negotiations have been on hold since January 2006).

The authority will cover implementing bills with respect to trade agreements entered into before July 1, 2007. (USC|19|3803(c)(1)(B).) The authority expired on July 1, 2007, without being renewed by Congress. [cite news|url=http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?Feed=AP&Date=20070630&ID=7109954|title=Bush losing trade negotiating authority; Democrats not eager to renew it|date=2007-06-30|publisher=Associated Press] Nonetheless, the authority will be available for Congressional consideration of free trade agreements with Peru, Panama, Colombia, and Korea, all of which the United States signed before the deadline.

Procedure

If the President transmits a trade agreement to Congress, then the majority leaders of the House and Senate or their designees must introduce the implementing bill submitted by the President on the first day on which their House is in session. (USC|19|2191(c)(1).) Senators and Representatives may not amend the President’s bill, either in committee or in the Senate or House. (USC|19|2191(d).) The committees to which the bill has been referred have 45 days after its introduction to report the bill, or be automatically discharged, and each House must vote within 15 days after the bill is reported or discharged. (USC|19|2191(e)(1).) In the likely case that the bill is a revenue bill (as tariffs are revenues), the bill must originate in the House (see [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/article01/ U.S. Const., art I, sec. 7] ), and after the Senate received the House-passed bill, the Finance Committee would have another 15 days to report the bill or be discharged, and then the Senate would have another 15 days to pass the bill. (USC|19|2191(e)(2).) On the House and Senate floors, each Body can debate the bill for no more than 20 hours, and thus Senators cannot filibuster the bill and it will pass with a simple majority vote. (USC|19|2191(f)-(g).) Thus the entire Congressional consideration could take no longer than 90 days.

Further reading

*Dauster, William G. [http://finance.senate.gov/TradePromotionAuthority.pdf "Trade Promotion Authority Annotated".] Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 2007. Senate print 110-10.
*Rockefeller, David. "Memoirs", New York: Random House, 2002.
*Smith, Carolyn C. [http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/73937.pdf "Trade Promotion Authority and Fast-Track Negotiating Authority for Trade Agreements: Major Votes".] Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, 2006.

References