A New Trade Deal on the Horizon: Trade Promotion Authority and the Trans-Pacific Partnership

摘要

During the National Association of Manufacturers' (NAM) Manufacturing Summit in early June 2015, one of the big issues pushed by NAM was Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). TPA gives President Obama significantly greater bargaining power with potential trade partners to negotiate terms. Without TPA, some countries are hesitant to engage in substantive trade discussions because of the perception that Congress will subsequently modify the agreed-upon terms. Under the traditional trade treaty procedure, members of Congress are able to add non-germane amendments or filibuster the treaty in the Senate to kill it. TPA limits these possibilities and requires a straight up-or-down congressional vote on a potential trade deal. Given the current political climate in Washington, TPA becomes a necessary prerequisite for any trade deal to succeed.