WASHINGTON – Congressman Vern Buchanan, top Republican for the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, and Ways and Means Republican Leader Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) led a letter signed by all Ways and Means Committee Republicans calling on President Biden to end his administration’s trade moratorium and begin consultations with Congress to renew Trade Promotion Authority (TPA).
“In order to pursue new and ambitions free trade agreements, we need to pass the next iteration of Trade Promotion Authority legislation,” said Buchanan. “If we don’t look beyond our borders to expand and sell more of our goods and services, America will lose influence abroad while also losing jobs here at home.”
Also known as “fast-track” authority, TPA allows for expedited congressional consideration of trade agreements — provided that certain statutory safeguards are met. TPA offers Congress the option of a simple up-or-down vote on a trade agreement, which is critical to ensure that the U.S. maintains leverage in complex negotiations.
“TPA is the foremost tool at our disposal to ensure that the United States continues to have a leading role in writing the trading rules that regulate the global economy,” said Buchanan, Brady and Ways and Means Republicans in the letter. “TPA renewal is an essential component of a unified U.S. Government approach to determining our international trade negotiation and enforcement priorities. It is only with this unified approach that we can deepen relationships with our allies to counter China through trade policy.”
Buchanan recently published a column in The Hill calling on Congress and the Biden administration to renew TPA after its expiration on July 1.
You can read the full letter below.
Dear President Biden,
We write to urge you to begin consultations with Congress to renew Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) so that America can once again lead the world by negotiating strong trade agreements that create U.S. jobs and open new markets for American goods and services while raising standards throughout the world. As you know, it’s not enough to Buy American, we need to Sell American throughout the world. Opening markets for new customers, reducing trade barriers, and effectively enforcing existing trade agreements all are vital to America’s economic recovery from the global COVID-19 pandemic. This is not only because our export-oriented producers, manufacturers, and businesses provide better than average wages for the 40 million American workers whom they employ, but also because new opportunities to export American goods and services help ensure that American job creators continue to lead the world in innovative industries of the future.
Like you, we believe that with the right global trading rules in place, American workers and businesses not only can compete in the global economy—they can win. And like you, we agree that the wrong thing to do in the face of these challenges “is to put our heads in the sand and say no more trade deals.”
An ambitious trade negotiating agenda for America is all the more important, given troubling signs that the pace of global economic recovery from the pandemic may remain uneven. We must ensure that our innovative manufacturers and service providers can access vital foreign markets on a truly level playing field with foreign competitors, without being forced to trade away the keys to their continuing comparative advantage as a condition for that access.
TPA is the foremost tool at our disposal to ensure that the United States continues to have a leading role in writing the trading rules that regulate the global economy. TPA is an outgrowth of our shared Constitutional prerogatives in the area of international trade. It establishes a partnership between the Legislative and Executive branches on trade policy through the formulation of comprehensive trade negotiating objectives, detailed consultation and transparency requirements, and procedures for Congressional consideration of completed agreements.
TPA signals to the world, including our competitors, that America is at the table, leading on trade policy, and capable of getting trade deals done. Our view is that every President, from either party, should have TPA in order to ensure America is best positioned for ambitious new trade agreements. Without TPA, America leaves a void on the international stage that malign actors, like China, seek to exploit, and that our allies may fill with policies that reflect priorities other than our own. TPA renewal is an essential component of a unified U.S. Government approach to determining our international trade negotiation and enforcement priorities. It is only with this unified approach that we can deepen relationships with our allies to counter China through trade policy.
We strongly believe that an updated TPA can garner significant bipartisan support in Congress, just as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) did. Additionally, there appears to be strong bipartisan, bicameral support for completing trade negotiations with the United Kingdom and Kenya that are currently under review by your Administration. We know there also is intense bipartisan interest in exploring other potential trade negotiations in the Asia[1]Pacific region and around the world. TPA provides the framework for robust consultation with Congress and stakeholders that ultimately will allow you to conclude and implement important new agreements.
Republicans stand ready to work with you, and our Democrat counterparts in Congress, toward this important priority. We know from our past experience that TPA renewal is never easy—it will take time to build a consensus and get it right. This underscores the urgency of getting started, as the last version of TPA expired on July 1, 2021. We urge your Administration to work with Congress to ensure that the renewal process begins promptly so the United States can return swiftly to the trade negotiating table.
Sincerely,
Kevin Brady
Republican Leader
Committee on Ways and Means
Vern Buchanan
Republican Leader
Committee on Ways and Means
Subcommittee on Trade
###
