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 TRADE TOPICS
 Agriculture |  China | Corporate Sustainability | Import  | Poverty |  Security |  TPA/Fast Track

Future Depends on Fast-Track Authority

Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Friday, September 7, 2001

By Bill Center
Trade Official

As Congress returns to work this fall, the debate shaping up over Trade Promotion Authority tops the legislative agenda. The outcome is certain to have long-lasting impact on the economic well-being of every farmer, business owner, employee and family in Washington state.

TPA, sometimes referred to as "fast track," is the legislative mechanism that gives U.S. trade representatives essential credibility at the international negotiating table. Absent TPA -- an authority enjoyed by every president from Nixon to Clinton until it expired in 1994 -- there will be few negotiations and no major trade agreements.

Some argue that is a good thing. But trade agreements don't mean "no rules." Trade agreements level the playing field for all trading partners.

They establish rules under which trade is conducted fairly and disputes resolved peacefully.

Being "for" trade does not mean being "against" the environment or labor or human rights. Americans want to live on a cleaner planet. We want labor standards upheld and children protected from exploitation. Americans want human rights, democracy and individual freedom to advance. Trade helps create the economic opportunity necessary for advancing those values.

In the wake of Seattle, Quebec and Genoa, our members of Congress are making it clear they will expect American negotiators to fully consider the environment and labor rights in the context of future trade negotiations.

Under TPA, Congress sets limits within which agreements can be negotiated and establishes rules for congressional consultation and involvement.

Congress is not cut out of the process. Only when Congress agrees in advance to accept or reject trade agreements as negotiated, in compliance with TPA, will potential trading partners be willing to undertake serious negotiations.

Meanwhile, we've been unable to negotiate effectively with international trading partners since TPA expired. The results -- or lack of them -- speak for themselves. More than 130 regional trade agreements are in force today across the globe. The United States is party to just two.

Our global competitors are not waiting for us to catch up. Our inaction over the past seven years has allowed them to take advantage of our absence from the negotiating table and we are locked out from potential new trading territories in the process.

The European Union has free trade agreements with 27 countries and is actively negotiating another 15. About 33 percent of world exports in 1999 were covered by EU free-trade and customs agreements, three times the amount covered by U.S. agreements.

Farmers, businesses, employees and their families across the nation already are feeling the direct results of our inertia. In Washington state alone, by the end of 2000, exports had fallen by nearly 15 percent from their 1998 peak. If this trend is not soon reversed, the damage to our economy will be irreparable.

Compared with their foreign counterparts, U.S. exporters often face higher tariffs, greater barriers in service industries, conflicting product standards, higher costs and greater delays in obtaining regulatory approval, and less favorable investment opportunities.

Whether or not the United States participates in the global marketplace is no longer an issue for debate.

One out of every three jobs in Washington state depends on international trade. One third of U.S. farmland is dedicated to exports and exports account for more than one-quarter of our nation's entire economic growth.

The companies dependent on trade are not just huge multinationals either -- 97 percent of exporters are small to medium-sized companies, each employing fewer than 100 or 500 workers, respectively.

To preserve the future economic vitality of Washington state, we urgently need to take action and catch up before it is too late. TPA is the only legislative mechanism that will enable that.

TPA will not bypass proper congressional review. As specified in the Constitution, Congress must review, vote on and will be free to reject any trade agreement. We should fully expect Congress to reject any agreement that does not benefit U.S. workers, protect the environment and preserve U.S. economic growth. The simple truth is, absent TPA, there will be no agreements for Congress to consider and America will fall further behind.

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Bill Center is president of the Washington Council on International Trade.