Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 5 • Number 42 • 12th December 2001
US House Narrowly Passes Fast Track Bill
By a margin of just one vote (215-214), the US House of Representatives on 6 December passed the Bush Administration’s trade promotion authority (TPA) bill — formerly known as ‘fast-track’ — which would allow the US President to negotiate trade agreements that Congress can only accept or reject, but not amend. Conservation and labour groups expressed concern with the legislation, which they fear will undermine efforts to promote environmental and labour standards in international trade.
Labour and environment provisions in the spotlight
US President George W. Bush welcomed the passing of the bill. "I commend the House of Representatives for passing legislation that will restore our nation’s authority to negotiate trade agreements," he said. Supporters of the bill argue that TPA is crucial for US participation in multilateral trade negotiations, which aim to open foreign markets to US exporters. Most Democrats, in contrast, opposed the bill on the grounds that the language on labour and environment was not strong enough.
To gain crucial support among Democrats, the TPA bill as introduced in the House contained several environment- and labour-related amendments to the original bill passed by the House Ways and Means Committee (WMC) in October this year (see BRIDGES, 16 October 2001). In particular, the bill now contains a provision that disallows sanctions if a country decides not to allocate resources for enforcing labour and environmental standards, and asserts a country’s right to set its own labour and environmental standards. According to WMC Chairperson Republican Bill Thomas, who had drafted the original bill, this provision adds "no new rights and obligations", but rather reasserts previously existing language.
The bill was strongly criticised by conservation groups, many of whom expressed concern that TPA could undermine efforts to include environmental, health and labour provisions in future trade agreements. "We shouldn’t rush through important trade deals without making sure that all Americans’ needs are addressed - including protections for the environment and workers. But that’s by definition what ‘fast-track’ does," said Carl Pope of the Sierra Club. His sentiments were echoed by Marty Hayden of Earthjustice, who described TPA as "a real threat to American democratic and environmental values."
Fast-track authority has been granted to every president since 1974, but expired in 1994 when Congress failed to approve a renewal request by former US President Bill Clinton due to discontent among members of Congress regarding environmental and labour provisions in the North American Free Trade Agreement. The new bill, which would grant TPA until 2007 (unless Congress disapproved the authority in 2005), is now being debated in the Senate’s Finance Committee and is likely to be taken up by the Senate early next year.
"House passes fast-track by one vote on largely GOP support," INSDIE US TRADE, 7 December 2001; "U.S. House passes fast track authority," ENS, 7 December 2001; "Trade bill passes House in victory for Bush," REUTERS, 7 December 2001; "House passes trade negotiation authority bill 215-214," WASHINGTON FILE, 6 December 2001.