Fast Track (trade) - Enactment and History

Enactment and History

Congress created the fast track authority in the Trade Act of 1974, § 151-154 (19 U.S.C. § 2191-2194). The fast track authority created under the Act was set to expire in 1980 but was extended for 8 years in a 1979 act and was renewed again in in 1988 until 1993 to accommodate negotiation of the Uruguay Round conducted within the framework of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and was again extended to 16 April 1994, a day after the Uruguay Round concluded in the Marrakech Agreement transforming the GATT into the World Trade Organization (WTO). Pursuant to that grant of authority, Congress then enacted implementing legislation for the United States-Israel Free Trade Area, the United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA). Fast track languished during the late 1990s because of the opposition of House Republicans.

Presidential candidate George W. Bush made fast track part of his campaign platform in 2000. In May 2001, as president he made a speech about the importance of free trade at the annual Council of the Americas in New York, founded by David Rockefeller and other senior US businessmen in 1965. Subsequently, the Council played a role in the implementation and securing of TPA through Congress.

At 3:30 a.m. on July 27, 2002, the House passed the Trade Act of 2002 narrowly by a 215 to 212 vote with 190 Republicans and 27 Democrats making up the majority. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 64 to 34 on August 1, 2002. The Trade Act of 2002, § 2103-2105 (19 U.S.C. § 3803-3805), extended and conditioned the application of the original procedures.

Under the second period of fast-track authority, Congress enacted implementing legislation for the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement, the United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, the United States-Australia Free Trade Agreement, the United States-Morocco Free Trade Agreement, the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement, the United States-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement, the United States-Oman Free Trade Agreement, and the Peru Trade Promotion Agreement. Other agreements may come to Congress under fast track, notably: the Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, the South Korea – United States Free Trade Agreement, and the Panama – United States Trade Promotion Agreement.

The authority will cover implementing bills with respect to trade agreements entered into before July 1, 2007. (19 U.S.C. § 3803(c)(1)(B).) The authority expired on July 1, 2007, without being renewed by Congress. Nonetheless, the authority will be available for Congressional consideration of free trade agreements with Panama, Colombia, and Korea, all of which the United States signed before the deadline.

In early 2012, the Obama administration indicated that renewal of the authority is a requirement for the conclusion of Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (TPP) negotiations, which have been undertaken as if the authority were still in effect.