Could 2021 Be The End Of The Road For TPA?

Trade Promotion Authority allows an Administration to speed trade deals through Congress without deal-killing amendments. TPA is close to expiring, and with no new trade deals in sight, there is a possibility TPA will expire. According to many in the Ag industry, TPA is the linchpin for getting U.S. trade deals approved, but with a 90-day notification requirement ahead of a July 1^st expiration already passed and no trade deals on the table, TPA is all but expired. American Farm Bureau trade adviser Dave Salmonsen said Congress could extend the formal deadline, however.

“At a certain point, though, and it doesn’t seem like there’s any trade agreements right now ready to be submitted, I think the administration and Congress at some point will have to get together and work on a new Trade Promotion Authority. But, as we heard last week with Ambassador Tai spoke to both Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committee hearings, it doesn’t sound like they’re quite ready yet to engage with that issue.”

But Salmonsen noted there is pressure to do so. Last week, South Dakota Senator John Thune told USTR Katherine Tai that he would like to see leadership from the Administration in order to move TPA forward. Salmonsen says farm groups also want to move forward on trade.

“We’ve got a lot to sell, and we’d like more places to sell it on a level playing field. Several negotiations are teed up, they just started, say last year, with both, the talks with the United Kingdom, the negotiations started with Kenya. Again, I know they’re under review, but those, I think are, can be restarted and go ahead. And there’s other ones that are also there that can move ahead, of course with China, with Japan.”

The Biden Administration’s position, reflected in Tai’s testimony last week, is that top-to-bottom trade deal reviews and getting past the pandemic must come first, while TPA and other trade moves must have bipartisan support.

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