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Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said talks on
the trade bill, seen as key to finalizing the 12-nation
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), were "stuck" over Democratic
demands to allow unsatisfactory deals to be taken off the fast
track.
The bill would allow lawmakers to set negotiating objectives for
trade deals in exchange for a yes-or-no vote, giving trading
partners confidence Congress will not pick agreements apart.
"I can't agree to something that is going to diminish the power
of ... the fast track approach, that's one of the difficulties
we are having," Hatch told reporters.
New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser said last week the TPP
must be agreed by mid-year or face being overtaken by U.S.
politics during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Some Republicans have said they will not support the TPP if fast
track is not passed before the deal closes.
A sticking point in the congressional talks is whether to allow
lawmakers to strip a deal they deem unsatisfactory of its
special status, and how high to set the hurdle.
"Would it require a low or high number of senators in order to
be able to reject a package?” said Calman Cohen, who heads the
Emergency Committee for American Trade, the main coordinating
business group on TPP issues.
The top Democrat on the Senate panel, Ron Wyden, said making
trade negotiations transparent and subject to congressional
oversight would dispel skepticism about trade.
"If you believe deeply in trade and you want more of it, you
should want to get rid of all of this secrecy that makes the
public so cynical about trade and you should want to have
Congress be involved at every step of the way in the
negotiations," he said, declining to give details of the talks.
Trade is a hard sell for many Democrats worried about the impact
on jobs and a Democratic aide said Wyden's stance aimed to
maximize bipartisan support for the bill.
“Senator Wyden is looking for some good, 11th hour concessions
that he can get to demonstrate to Democrats that he has gotten
the best deal possible," the aide said.
As part of the administration's push to win over Democrats, U.S.
Trade Representative Michael Froman updated House of
Representatives members on the TPP at a caucus meeting on
Tuesday, Froman's first briefing for the full caucus.
Froman and National Economic Council Director Jeff Zients also
laid out plans for future briefings, Michigan Representative
Sander Levin said.
(Reporting by Krista Hughes; Editing by Christian Plumb)
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