Pelosi: ‘New paradigm’ needed on trade

The era of fast-tracking global trade agreements is coming to a close, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) wrote in an op-ed Tuesday.

A majority of House Democrats on Friday voted against a program that helps workers displaced by trade, halting progress on trade promotion authority legislation, which would allow a massive Asia-Pacific deal move through Congress on an up-or-down vote.

“As we look to the future, it is clear that the debate on the trade authority is probably the last of its kind,” Pelosi wrote in USA Today.

“The intense debate of the past few weeks has further convinced me that we need a new paradigm,” she wrote.

On Friday, 144 Democrats voted against renewing the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program, which they have long supported, in order to kill fast-track legislation.

The two measures, which came over from the Senate in one package, were procedurally linked, meaning failure of either to pass killed the other, at least temporarily.

The House went ahead and passed the fast-track measure with the help of 28 Democrats. But without the assistance program, the trade package is stuck in limbo, forcing GOP leaders and the White House to come up with a new strategy.

Pelosi said the overwhelming vote last week to stop fast-track trade is a indication it’s time for Republicans and Democrats to work together to negotiate a better deal for the American people.

“The benefits of globalization have overwhelmingly flowed to the most affluent and powerful, while the costs have been shouldered by ordinary citizens in both developed and developing nations,” she wrote.

“I suggest a new global engagement on trade — an engagement that enables voices from all aspects of the world’s economies to be heard,” Pelosi wrote.

The California Democrat suggested going through the United Nations or “in a new conclave created to give voice to representatives of public, private and non-profit organizations.”

“We must give workers more leverage and have more open discussion, with greater transparency and stronger accountability than the World Trade Organization or other trade negotiations,” she wrote.

House Republican leaders are preparing to keep the trade debate open until the end of July, while they search for a solution.

“We believe that America, and indeed the world, can innovate in ways that will lift up the workers who have been left behind by globalization,” Pelosi wrote.

“In so doing, we must prepare our people, our economies and our environment for the future. These issues are interlinked.”