It still faces a long slog, but after a defeat on a procedural vote in the Senate earlier in the week, a trade bill that could be a major benefit to Washington state jobs appears to again be moving forward.
The Senate voted Thursday to begin debate on legislation to restore Trade Promotion Authority for President Obama as the U.S. continues trade negotiations with 11 other Pacific Rim countries as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Also called fast-track authority, the legislation allows Congress the opportunity to make clear the protections for jobs, the environment and other issues it wants to set for trade deals before negotiations wrap up. Once the deals are done, Congress gets a final say in an up-or-down vote but can’t make amendments.
We’ve shared these numbers before, but this is why this is important to Washington: Many of our jobs — 4 in 10 — are reliant on trade. As China looks to increase its trade position in the Pacific Rim it will be important for the United States to have deals in place with major trading partners around the rim, including Australia, Japan and Canada.
Most Republicans in the Senate are supportive of the legislation, as have been Washington’s Democratic Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, who have expressed general support previously for Trade Promotion Authority and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But both also joined all but one Democrat in the Senate to block debate when the issue came before the body on Tuesday. Representatives for both senators clarified that the vote Tuesday wasn’t to kill fast-track authority but to get agreements from Republicans in the Senate to allow votes on amendments to the bill and on other trade-related issues, including an African trade agreement and customs enforcement, both of which passed the Senate on Thursday. Those intentions were made clear during a meeting Tuesday between Obama and 10 pro-trade Democratic senators, including Murray and Cantwell.
Democrats had wanted one issue, currency manipulation by trading partners, to be included in the trade bill itself but settled for separate legislation on the issue. Countries that keep the value of their currency low make their exports cheaper, raising the price of American-made imports. The currency legislation may make it through Senate and House but likely faces a veto by Obama who believes it would complicate current and future trade talks.
The fast-track legislation isn’t expected to move swiftly through the Senate, particularly with the Memorial Day break approaching. Nor is its path forward assured in the House, where it faces more Democratic opposition. President Obama likely would be better served by more meetings with fellow Democrats than by picking fights with them, as he has with Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Washington state and the nation can benefit from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Adding conditions inside and outside of the Trade Promotion Authority bill can assure that the protections Americans want are included in the trade deals that follow.
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