TPA bill clears Senate, paves way for Asia trade deal

Several trade preference bills and Trade Adjustment Assistance also passed in addition to fast-track Trade Promotion Authority, and will now go to the House for another round of voting.    The “fast-track” Trade Promotion Authority bill is now heading to President Obama’s desk for his signature less than two weeks after his high-priority trade agenda seemed grounded on congressional rocks.
   The U.S. Senate passed TPA Wednesday by a vote of 60-38, giving Obama and Trade Representative Michael Froman a key negotiating tool to finalize the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. The so-called “fast-track” authority is designed to help other nations commit to free trade agreements secure in the knowledge that Congress can only ratify them through an up-or-down vote, without any changes. In the legislation, Congress also provides guidelines to the White House about goals it expects from any trade agreement.
   The outcome was considered somewhat of a foregone conclusion after the Senate voted Tuesday to end debate on the measure. The TPA will last for six years and also help the next administration finalize another huge trade deal with the European Union, the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.
   The U.S. House of Representatives passed TPA last Friday.
   The Trans-Pacific Partnership will lower tariffs for partner nations, and also strengthen intellectual property rights protections, enhance digital commerce across borders and limit the power of state-run corporations. The primary benefits in the United States are likely to accrue to U.S. companies in the agricultural and service sectors.
   The Senate also passed a package of other trade bills that now go to the House for a vote.
   The legislation includes Trade Adjustment Assistance, a support program for workers who lose their jobs when manufacturers take advantage of trade deals to relocate factories overseas. Also approved was the Generalized System of Preferences program, which expired two years ago, and provides duty-free access for a variety of products from developing countries. Since its expiration, it is estimated American companies have paid nearly $2 million per day in unnecessary duties, according to the Retail Industry Leaders Association. Companies will be able to get that money back because the GSP renewal is retroactive to July 2013.
   In addition, the bill includes a 10-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act and an extension of the Haiti HELP/HOPE program.
   President Obama has made the TPP a major priority of his second term. He sees the deal as a way to increase U.S. exports and further U.S. strategic power in Southeast Asia vis-à-vis China. But the prospects for finalizing TPP looked poor after the House earlier this month rejected TPA, mostly because of strong opposition from Democrats worried about potential job losses and loss of U.S. regulatory power to international arbitrators. The TPA and Trade Adjustment Assistance came out of the Senate joined at the hip. The House passed a TPA bill, but Democrats used the linkage to vote against TAA and undermine TPA.
   That led Obama and Republican leaders to work together like never before to come up with a new strategy in which TPA and TAA were decoupled and voted on again, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell asking Democrats to trust him that TAA would be brought to the floor for a vote.
   Business groups of all stripes cheered passage of the trade bills.
   “This is a landmark step toward tearing down trade barriers that stand in the way of a truly free and open global economy. TPA will help complete trade agreements that will open new markets for U.S. companies and help retailers provide American families with the products they need at prices they can afford,” Matthew Shay, president of the National Retail Federation, said in a statement. “This will ultimately mean more jobs for American workers and lower prices for American consumers. After weeks of partisanship, it’s refreshing to see Congress finally put good policy ahead of politics.”