Trade Promotion Authority - Truth About Trade and Technology

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Friday, 22 August 2008 01:45

Trade requires talk.

If countries don’t negotiate with each other, they won’t trade. Moreover, negotiations must be efficient and productive if they’re to occur at all. Imagine trying to buy a gallon of milk--and having to haggle over the price with 535 different clerks. You’d probably take your business to another store.

That’s essentially what happens when the United States doesn’t have Trade Promotion Authority--other countries take their business elsewhere. TPA gives the president the power to shape trade agreements and Congress has an up-or-down vote. While preserving the legislature’s check-and-balance responsibility, TPA prevents senators and representatives from changing the terms of the deal. Foreign trade ministers simply won’t agree to negotiate with 535 politicians.

In recent years, TPA has become a political football. A Republican Congress has denied it to a Democratic president. A Democratic Congress has denied it to a Republican president. These partisan games must stop--any American president, regardless of party, should have the power to talk trade with other world leaders. And Congress should have the ability to approve or deny trade agreements, but not to rewrite them.

When we trade, it’s because we’ve talked--and nobody will talk with us unless the president has Trade Promotion Authority.