WASHINGTON and DES MOINES, Iowa – On Thursday, the Senate Finance Committee will get a chance to grill U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman on the President’s trade agenda, which includes both the bilateral Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union, and the multilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership with 11 other Pacific Rim nations.
A major sticking point in the multilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership is the idea of “sensitive products,” the tariffs on which would not be lowered or eliminated as part of the deal. Japan in particular has raised objections about its beef, pork and dairy products.
Last week, the President traveled to Japan to work on the issue, but he returned with little to report. Iowa Senator and Senate Finance Committee member Chuck Grassley was unimpressed.
“It would be very helpful if the President would spend as much time with Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, on trade,” said Grassley, “as he does with foreign leaders. He would be much closer to getting free trade agreements approved, if that were the case.”
Grassley was referring to Democratic resistance to trade promotion authority (TPA), also called “fast track.” Under TPA, Congress delegates its trade authority to the executive branch, which can then broker trade deals which Congress in turn can pass or reject, but not amend.
Without TPA, trading partners may hesitate to sign a trade deal which Congress could later change during the debate process, but Grassley thinks the Trans-Pacific Partnership has been making headway.
“I had two conversations with Ambassador Froman,” Grassley said, “here again, I’m cynical, but I want to believe that he gives me an update, says that some progress is being made. It’s pretty hard to quantify the word ‘some,’ but he was indicating that maybe they were breaking through on some cuts of pork that Japan didn’t previously want coming into their country. How much progress that is, I don’t know, but he was very positive when he talked to me from Tokyo last week.”
To hear more about the Trans-Pacific Partnership and trade promotion authority, click here.
