The 2008 presidential campaign is well underway, and so far nobody has asked the candidates in any of their debates what may be the single most important question the next president will face on international trade: “Do you support the renewal of Trade Promotion Authority?”
This weekend, TPA officially expires--and the United States loses one of its most important tools for broadening two-way trade with foreign markets. Unless Congress reauthorizes TPA, our government won’t be able to negotiate new trade agreements with other countries. Trade will continue and it may even expand, based upon previous agreements secured with TPA in effect. But we won’t be able to seek out new opportunities for American goods and services because other nations won’t want to waste their time talking to us.
Amazingly, the presidential candidates haven’t been forced to stake out a position on this subject in their debates. It’s about time for somebody to make them go on the record. For Democrats, the next chance will come at a candidate forum in Orlando, sponsored by the National Association of Latino Elected Officials, and for Republicans, at a forum in Des Moines sponsored by Iowans for Tax Relief and the Iowa Christian Alliance.
But whenever it comes, it’s a question that each candidate should and must answer. Those who say that they support the renewal of TPA will signal that they’re open to future trade agreements. Those who come out against the renewal of TPA will indicate that they have no interest in expanding trade opportunities.
The legislative mechanics of TPA are simple: It allows the U.S. trade representative—and her dozen or so negotiators--to discuss trade agreements with foreign governments. When these talks result in pacts, they must win approval in Congress before they take effect. TPA permits them to receive an up-or-down vote.
It also blocks the introduction of amendments that would, essentially, force our government to re-open negotiations that already have been concluded. Why? Because if trade agreements are subject to tinkering by 435 representatives and 100 senators - they’ll never be finished.
As a practical matter, the office of the trade representative always consults with Members of Congress (MOC) during trade talks. That way, the MOC’s are able to help shape trade agreements long before the agreements come back to Congress for the final up-or-down vote.
In recent years, the executive and legislative branches of government have clashed over TPA: the president has wanted it, but Congress hasn’t been especially eager to give it to him.
Petty partisanship explains much of this. When Republicans controlled Congress during the 1990s, they let President Clinton’s TPA run out and didn’t renew it--they waited until 2002, when President Bush acquired a five-year renewal.
Today, the roles of the 1990s are reversed: Democrats are in charge of Congress and they’re letting a Republican president’s TPA expire.
It would be nice to see presidential candidates from both parties lock arms and say that whoever is elected in 2008, the next president should have TPA--no matter whether that person is a Democrat or a Republican.
Even better would be a call for Congress to renew TPA immediately, for the remaining months of the Bush presidency. Better still would be a call to make TPA permanent, so that it is forever removed from Washington’s partisan gamesmanship, whose consequence is to prevent Americans from seeking new economic opportunities abroad.
The candidates have differing views and ideas on trade. Democrat John Edwards recently said that he would establish a cabinet-level position for an advisor on global poverty. Rudy Giuliani has claimed that he supports free trade, but years ago he opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement. Several of the candidates with congressional experience have mixed voting records, favoring some trade agreements and opposing others.
Trade is a complicated subject, and it’s reasonable to have complicated views of it. Right now, however, any political conversation among the candidates must begin with a single question: “Do you support the renewal of TPA?”
The public deserves to know where they stand. But we won’t, until the question is asked.
Dean Kleckner, an Iowa farmer, chairs Truth About Trade & Technology www.truthabouttrade.org
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The 2008 presidential campaign is well underway, and so far nobody has asked the candidates in any of their debates what may be the single most important question the next president will face on international trade: “Do you support the renewal of Trade Promotion Authority?”
