Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) is vital to continued U.S. leadership in setting the global trade agenda.

TPA is a critical negotiating tool for the United States.

• TPA has been a vital tool for U.S. negotiators since 1974. Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton all had this type of authority to negotiate trade deals with global trading partners. Using TPA-type authority, U.S. negotiators were able to negotiate the trade agreements that shaped our modern trading system, including the Tokyo Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement, the U.S.-Israel Free Trade Agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Uruguay Round of multilateral agreements that formed the World Trade Organization (WTO).
• TPA is critical to the negotiation of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements because it gives U.S. trade negotiators credibility at the negotiating table. When the president has TPA, the United States’ trading partners know that Congress will not reopen the negotiations by amending the final agreement. As a result, trading partners are willing to grant more substantial concessions.Firms that participate in a global economy grow faster and pay more than those that do not.

Failure to renew TPA in 2005 will hinder ongoing nego-tiations and undermine America’s competitive position in the global trading system.

• From 1994 to 2002, when TPA authority was denied to the president, the United States fell dangerously behind in negotiating important trade and investment agreements. During that same period other nations were able to negotiate a web of preferential agreements that put U.S. businesses, workers and farmers at a disadvantage. Failure to renew TPA in 2005 will undermine the United States’ ability to negoti-ate important new trade agreements.
  • While the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement negotiations were stalled awaiting TPA reauthorization, Chile negotiated free trade agreements with Canada, the European Union and the Mercosur nations that put U.S. exporters at a disad-vantage. For example, U.S. agricultural exports to Chile faced an average 8 percent tariff compared to zero duties on other countries’ products. The 2002 TPA reauthorization allowed the United States to complete a free trade agree-ment with Chile in 2003, and U.S. exporters now compete on a level playing field. But the years lost to delay represent lost profits and lost market share for U.S. producers.
  • Negotiation of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, an unprecedented regional trade agreement that would create a free trade area encompassing 34 countries in North and South America, was seriously undermined by the six-year delay in reauthorizing TPA. The negotiations are now proceeding under the 2002 TPA reauthorization, but critical momentum for this important agreement was lost.
  • Negotiations on the latest round of multilateral agreements (the Doha Round) also were stalled by the absence of TPA for U.S. negotiators. During the period when Congress denied TPA to the president, the Doha Round negotiations languished, in part because our trade partners saw the absence of TPA as a “roadblock” to negotiations. When completed, the Doha Round is expected to bring substantial benefit to U.S. exporters, particularly in the agricultural sector — delays in completing the deal will harm U.S. farmers and businesses.

Failure to renew TPA denies U.S. trade negotiators a vital tool in securing a level playing field for U.S. farmers and businesses.