Hatch offers fast-track, trade agency consolidation amendments

In a Thursday letter, Hatch told acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis that he is looking “forward to the negotiations we have ahead of us to developing a sound process with strong negotiating objectives that will yield the highest standards in our trade agreements, giving U.S. businesses and farmers the best opportunities abroad.”

{mosads}During a Tuesday hearing before the committee, Marantis told Hatch that the administration is prepared to begin talks on TPA.

Hatch and others have argued that TPA is needed to ensure Congress has a say in defining the objectives for trade agreements while assuring potential trading partners that the United States will follow through and ratify the deals. 

In another amendment he called for an international trade agency reorganization, except for those agencies within the Executive Office of the President, such as the USTR.

More than a year ago, President Obama called on lawmakers to give him the authority to consolidate business and trade agencies with the aiming of to saving billions of dollars. Any recommendations would be sent to Congress for final approval. He has suggested merging the Small Business Administration and five other trade and business offices, including USTR, into a single agency that would replace the Commerce Department.

But the idea hasn’t gained any traction and some business groups have said they are wary of any plan that would remove the U.S. Trade Representative form the Cabinet.  

The third amendment would create of an office of chief intellectual property rights negotiator at the USTR, always a major issue in working out trade deals. 

This story was updated at 6:30 p.m.