By Ben Schaefer
It’s been a busy couple of weeks in the nation’s capital. With landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions handed down on same-sex marriage and the Affordable Care Act, it would be understandable if the flurry of activity on trade and export issues went largely unnoticed.
And that’s exactly what has been happening.
On June 29, President Obama signed into law legislation recently approved by Congress that gives him so-called “fast track” authority in trade deals. In essence, “fast track”—more formally known as trade promotion authority—is an understanding that the terms negotiated by the administration in its dealings with trade partners will be the final terms of the deal. Every president in recent memory has had TPA, though the last round of authority lapsed under President George W. Bush in 2007. This move will allow Obama to wrap up negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and seek progress on other deals such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership without the possibility of congressional amendment—only overall approval or disapproval.
The deal on fast track authority saw controversy in another vein as well. In a separate but related deal, trade adjustment assistance (TAA) was also approved. TAA is a program that provides funding for retraining and job search supports, directed at workers who are displaced from their jobs as a result of international free trade. Some opponents argue the program is ineffective, while others claim it’s an admission that free trade agreements cost American workers their jobs. Conversely, in its push for support of TAA, the Obama administration notes that “in fiscal year 2014, nearly 77 percent of TAA participants found a job within six months of completing the program, and 90 percent of those who found work retained their jobs six months later.”
It was inaction, however, that saw change come in the export promotion realm. With Congress not acting before the June 30 deadline, the Export-Import Bank of the United States saw its authority to issue new loan guarantees expire. In fiscal year 2014, the bank notes that it supported more than $27 billion in exports and 164,000 jobs in the U.S. through various supports. One of the affected initiatives, the Bank’s City/State Partners program, allows the institution to work with local, county and state nonprofit economic development groups to promote exports from their regions. While the bank is currently unable to operate, signs remain positive that the bank will be reauthorized in a package deal along with transportation funding. The deadline for the transportation bill is the end of July.
Read more about NCSL’s policies on trade, including the Export-Import Bank and free trade agreements.
Read the letter NCSL leaders sent to members of Congress urging reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank.
Ben Schaefer is a policy specialist in NCSL’s State-Federal Relations division in Washington, D.C.
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