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TRADE-US: Putting the Brakes on “Fast Track” Powers

Emad Mekay

WASHINGTON, Feb 1 2007 (IPS) - U.S. President George W. Bush has called on Congress to renew a long-time provision giving the White House broad authority to rapidly negotiate and sign trade pacts, but which many labour unions and citizen advocacy groups say have denied the public, and Congress, sufficient time to grasp their implications.

On Wednesday, the White House joined business groups to argue that the president’s expedited trade promotion authority, or TPA, is essential for the conclusion of the stalled multilateral trade talks known as the Doha Development Agenda at the World Trade Organisation.

The U.S. president made his request for renewed fast track trade authority during a speech on the economy Wednesday.

He argued that global trade talks like Doha, launched in 2001, have the potential to lower trade barriers around the world, open new markets and reduce poverty.

The TPA requires an expedited up-or-down vote in Congress on trade deals, which cannot be amended. Fast track also creates special rules that allow the executive branch to sign an agreement before Congress votes on it, and only give lawmakers 90 days to vote on the agreement. The current fast-track authority expires Jun. 30.

“The only way America can complete Doha and make headway on other trade agreements is to extend trade promotion authority,” Bush said during his speech. “I ask Congress to renew it.”

Many of the most controversial trade pacts, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which established the World Trade Organisation (WTO), have been negotiated under the fast track authority.

Some Democrats and grassroots groups worry that the TPA has in the past created a “race to the bottom”, with labour and environmental standards getting short shrift.

“Trade deals that fail to enhance the rights of workers inevitably lower standards of living in both the U.S. and its trading partners,” Dave Foster, executive director of the Blue-Green Alliance, told IPS.

“This was the lesson of NAFTA where job loss became endemic in the industrial Midwest and workers’ living standards in Mexico deteriorated by 20 percent. The CAFTA [Central American Free Trade Agreement] model is based on the failures of NAFTA, not correcting them.”

In a statement, John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, one of the largest U.S. trade union federations, noted that the U.S. has lost more than three million manufacturing jobs since 2001, “many to offshore outsourcing”, while the trade deficit has hit nearly 800 billion dollars.

“No longer should Congress be expected to take an up-or-down vote on a bad trade deal without proper consultation and participation at earlier stages of negotiation,” Sweeney said.

Although 39 House Democrats expressed similar concerns in a letter to the Ways and Means Committee that criticised the administration’s trade agenda and CAFTA in particular, Charles B. Rangel, the new committee chairman, said Wednesday at a hearing on globalisation and trade policy that he is willing to work with the administration on renewing fast track authority if Bush will offer concessions on labour rights.

Many labour, environmental and advocacy groups say that for the United States to avoid the mistakes of the past, any future deals must include enforceable, core international worker rights and environmental standards.

“This is not about whether or not there will be trade among countries and our goal is not to close off the U.S. to the world economy,” Margrete Strand, senior trade representative for the Sierra Club, told IPS. “Instead this is simply about making sure that the rules that govern trade are right and include meaningful provisions that protect the environment.”

Over the last six years, the Bush administration signed bilateral trade agreements with 10 countries. Last year, it began negotiations on free trade agreements with Korea and Malaysia, among others.

This accelerated pace under the fast track authority has harmed the U.S. economy, said Chris Slevin, deputy director of the Washington-based Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch.

“Deals under fast track have decimated manufacturing jobs and suppressed wages, period,” Slevin told IPS. “In fact, the average American worker is making just a nickel more per hour than in 1973, the year before [U.S. President Richard] Nixon first used fast track. Fast track has accelerated growing inequality with workers losing while the richest few make massive gains.”

“The [Nov. 7] elections reaffirmed that renewing fast track is a non-starter and that there’s a demand around the country for bold changes in trade, which starts with reasserting Congress’ constitutional role in the process,” he said.

On the side of the debate is an array of powerful private-sector groups like the Business Roundtable, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), which issued statements Wednesday endorsing President Bush’s call for Congress to extend the TPA, at least for the short term.

“If we achieve a breakthrough on the Doha Round in the next couple of months, we should consider approving a targeted and short-term one-year extension of TPA for the Doha Round to ensure it is completed within a year, while allowing a more fulsome and thoughtful debate on our broader trade agenda to proceed on a separate track, if necessary,” said Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council.

“TPA is critical to keeping the benefits of trade flowing, and the business community stands ready to work with the administration and Congress to renew this authority,” said U.S. Chamber President Tom Donohue.