That’s good advice if you’re learning to ride a bike, but it has no place at international trade talks after the agreement. Sure, success can require a lot of effort--we might even say a lot of tries. We’re certainly seeing how that’s the case with the current round of WTO bargaining.
But, once you’ve shaken hands on a deal, you don’t rehash it and make more changes. You move on.
The United States shook hands with Australia last month when the U.S. Congress ratified the free-trade agreement with Australia by votes of 80 to 16 in the Senate and 314 to 109 in the House. Federal lawmakers approved a pact that is projected to boost the American economy by nearly half a billion dollars per year--and with a country that has been one of our most steadfast allies in the war on terror. “The United States and Australia have never been closer,” said President Bush on August 3, as he signed the bill to expand trade with our friends Down Under.
Yet now, it seems, Australia is having an internal political fight – attempting to change the agreed-to language. Labor Party members in the Australian Senate announced that they were for free trade--but that they also wanted two teensie-weensie little changes to the pact. One would create greater penalties for pharmaceutical companies that take advantage of the courts to delay the release of inexpensive generic drugs and the other would protect rules requiring that 55 percent of the content on Australia’s commercial television be made locally.
These details don’t really matter. The bottom line is that we made a deal with each other, and now the Australians have decided to change the terms. We absolutely should not let them get away with it.
Under the terms of our current Trade Promotion Authority law, as well as others that preceded it, the administration in power negotiates the terms of an agreement. These negotiations are under the auspices of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Congress, in turn, then votes to accept or reject the traded accords, but cannot change them in any way. This vital principle is at stake with Australia.
The point is the law gives our legislators a yes-or-no vote on a trade agreement, not an amendment option. This is an essential tool for expanding free trade. Without it, countries won’t even bother negotiating with us because they know it’s the equivalent of putting an additional 535 chairs around the bargaining table (representing 100 senators and 435 House members). This would make trade negotiations impossible to achieve. It would be a huge waste of time and effort.
If we allow Australia to change our new free-trade agreement, we send a message to Congress saying that politicians in other countries should have the right to influence trade pacts in ways that American legislators do not. And, if the United States tried to re-negotiate a deal after it was signed, other countries would most certainly cry foul.
It would be a real shame to see this pact with the Australians crumble, because it’s a good deal for both countries. But it would be an even bigger shame to lose Trade Promotion Authority when it comes up for reauthorization in Congress next year, on the grounds that our trade officials respect the views of foreign politicians more than they do the opinions of individual members of Congress.
We should send a clear signal to Australia: We have a deal, and you can accept it or reject it. If you accept it, then our two countries will enjoy the benefits of a closer economic relationship. If you reject it, even over a couple of tiny details, then we should reopen negotiations to see if your newfound concerns can be addressed. But the only way to make a change to the agreement we now have is in the context of new negotiations leading to a new agreement.
I hope we can secure a free-trade agreement with the Australians--but not if it comes at too high a price. In my book, jeopardizing every future trade deal our country makes is exactly that.
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