U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman says granting the President Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) is important to getting trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership done in a timely manner. TPA is given to the president by Congress and allows him to negotiate international trade deals on which Congress can vote up or down without amendment or filibuster.
We are now engaged with our colleagues in Congress – Ways and Mean Committee, Finance Committee – to talk about how to put together a bill that can have bipartisan support to give us the authority to conclude and get these negotiations and these agreements through Congress, and that can also support workers and make sure they have the skills available through our renewal of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program going forward as well.
The U.S. is currently involved in several trade negotiations with big implications for American agriculture, including the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or T-TIP, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership or TPP. Froman recently told members of the President?s Export Council none of it can happen without TPA.
Sometimes also called “fast track,” TPA has not been sought by President Obama until this year. It expired in 2007 under President Bush, who did not seek it before the end of his second term.
