|
 The stunning outcome cast doubt on the Trade Promotion Authority
(TPA) "fast track" bill which is key to the Obama administration's
ability to complete the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Washington's negotiating partners say enacting U.S. fast-track
legislation to expedite passage of any trade deal is vital to
clinching an agreement that would create a free trade zone covering
40 percent of the world economy.
"Each negotiation member nation considers the TPA bill indispensable
towards an early agreement on TPP talks," said Japan's Chief Cabinet
Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference. Tokyo has long said
TPP members would find it difficult to make trade concessions if the
trade deal was subject to revision in the U.S. Congress.
"Japan strongly hopes an early enactment of the bill in the U.S.,"
Suga, the top government spokesman, told a regular news conference.
Failure to clinch a U.S.-led TPP agreement could also damage
Washington's leadership image in Asia, where China is forging ahead
with a new Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)
without the participation of the United States and Japan.
The Senate voted 52-45 - short of the 60 votes needed - to pave the
way for debate on the "fast-track" trade authority for Obama. "What
we just saw here is pretty shocking," said Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell, a Republican.
The vote marked a victory for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid,
an outspoken opponent of fast-track, after weeks of speculation that
the toughest fight would be in the House of Representatives and not
the Senate.
Under fast-track, Congress can approve or reject trade deals
negotiated by the administration but not amend deals such as the
TPP, a potential legacy-defining achievement for Obama.
Pro-trade U.S. Senate Democrats, including Senator Ron Wyden of
Oregon, insisted that fast-track authority be bundled together with
three other trade bills, including one that would impose import
duties on countries that manipulate their currencies for unfair
trade advantage.
The White House strongly opposes the measure. A source familiar with
negotiations in the Senate said one option would be to bundle the
four bills together but take out the currency provision. That could
be voted on separately, said the source.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, a Republican, told
reporters that it could take a day or two to broker a compromise
while Democrats predicted it would come back.
"I don’t think today’s vote is a death knell for TPA, but it is a
very strong warning shot to the majority leader ... that without
worker protections, without enforcement provisions, they will likely
not move forward," Democratic Senator Chris Coons told reporters.
[to top of second column] |
'PROCEDURAL SNAFU'
Negotiations on the TPP are nearly complete, but trading partners
have said they want to see fast-track legislation enacted before
finalizing the pact, which would stretch from Japan to Chile. That
would create the biggest trade deal since the North American Free
Trade Agreement liberalized trade between the United States, Canada
and Mexico.
More than two decades later, that pact is blamed by many on the left
in the United States for factory closures and job losses and has
soured sentiment toward the TPP.
Now, McConnell faces the tough choice of possibly bending to
Democrats' demands and in so doing, losing Republican votes in the
Senate and House.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest played down the day's
developments as a “procedural snafu” and said the White House would
continue to work to push the legislation forward.
Only one Democrat, Senator Tom Carper of Delaware, backed the
measure, despite a White House campaign blitz to win Democratic
support.
Obama held a "constructive" meeting on Tuesday afternoon with 10
Senate Democrats to discuss how to advance fast-track legislation,
the White House said in a statement.
Senate Republicans stuck together in voting to let the bill pass its
first test. However, McConnell at the last minute changed his vote
to "no" in a procedural move that lets him bring the bill to a vote
again in the future.
The failure to secure the needed votes sent a worrying signal about
the level of support for fast track, which is opposed by unions,
environmental and consumer groups but backed by businesses, which
reacted with disappointment.
(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell and Roberta Rampton in
Washington and Kaori Kaneko and Linda Sieg in Tokyo; Editing by
Steve Orlofsky, Ken Wills and Michael Perry)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
