Trade advisory group members urge quick agreement on TAA, three trade deals

“Both the administration and congressional Republicans profess an appropriate sense of urgency regarding passage of the trade agreements,” they wrote.” To reach that goal by the August recess, they must end the partisan wrangling over TAA, which is a dispute over process, not substance.”

Those signing on to the op-ed were John Negroponte, a former deputy secretary of state and director of national intelligence in the George W. Bush administration and chairman of the Council of the Americas; Mack McLarty, a former special envoy for the Americas and White House chief of staff in the Clinton administration; former Rep. Jim Jones(D-Okla.), who was White House appointments secretary in the Johnson administration; and Rob Mosbacher Jr., president of Mosbacher Energy and president of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation in the Bush White House. 

“The controversy over these trade bills would be merely puzzling if it weren’t so damaging to our nation’s economic interests,” they wrote. “The longer the United States delays, the larger market share U.S. producers lose as global competitors fill the void.”

The Obama administration included TAA in the Korean deal when it sent the trade accords up to Capitol Hill for mock markups, a move Republicans oppose.

Although the group didn’t urge Republicans to “support TAA as a mere quid pro quo for the Obama administration’s submission of the trade pacts to Congress,” it did argue that the trade agreements could harm some sectors of the economy, and that “TAA helps displaced workers train for jobs in businesses that can compete with rising imports” and “is a far better way to defend workers from trade-related disruptions than protective tariffs or quotas.”

“Ironically, some of the same members of Congress who criticize TAA’s inclusion in the South Korea bill today voted for reauthorization of TAA in the NAFTA legislation in 1993,” they said. 

TAA was created in 1962 and has been routinely renewed with bipartisan support, including in 2009 as part of the economic stimulus. 

Under an agreement with the White House and congressional Democrats and Republicans announced last week, the 2009 version of the program has been streamlined, costs significantly less and is fully paid for with offsets from other programs. 

The trade group also suggested that the White House and congressional negotiators shift their attention from reaching an agreement on raising the debt ceiling to passing the trade deals before the August recess. 

“Deficit reduction is an urgent task requiring intense scrutiny of spending measures,” the wrote. “But it is counterproductive to delay long-overdue trade agreements that finally have a chance of passing over a relatively inexpensive assistance program designed to smooth out the rougher edges of the global economy.”

The trade advisory group consists of Council representatives and invited experts who educate and advocate on behalf of open markets and trade facilitation in the Americas.