US lawmakers on Thursday voted to stall consideration of a controversial free trade agreement with Colombia, in an unprecedented move that critics and the White House portrayed as a huge setback for US trade policy. The Democratic-led House voted 224 to 195 to stop the 90-day “fast track” time-table under which most significant US free trade deals have been ratified since the 1970s. It drew an irate response from the Bush administration and other critics. “In order to negotiate trade agreements, we empower our trade representatives with the promise that Congress will consider trade agreements with a timely up-or-down vote,” said President George W. Bush in a statement released from his Texas ranch. “By breaking this bond, Democrats have undercut not just this administration but future administrations as well.”
The battle over the Colombia FTA escalated dramatically this week, after Mr Bush decided to send legislation implementing the deal to Congress without the consent of Democratic leaders. It was the first time in the 35-year history of the “fast-track” process that a president had sought to force lawmakers to vote on a free trade deal. Nancy Pelosi, House speaker, on Thursday told reporters that the House acted to “reassert its authority”. The California Democrat added: “We will set a timetable that is compatible with meeting the needs of America’s working people and now we can talk.” The fast-track procedure for negotiating trade deals has been in place since the early 1970s. It was designed to streamline US trade negotiations, which are constitutionally the responsibility of Congress.
Through the fast track, lawmakers in effect delegate their negotiating powers to the executive branch, in exchange for a high level of consultation on the terms of deals. Even before this week, fast track has had a rocky history and has sometimes been suspended, for example during the latter years of the Clinton administration following the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Fred Bergsten, director of the Peterson Institute, said the consequences of the Colombia vote were “enormous” nevertheless.
“This is a calamity for the world trading system,” he said. “It undermines the whole basis for international confidence in the US as a trading partner.” The decision to suspend the application of fast track was much worse than not having fast track authority at all, he said. It meant that no future fast track authority would be credible. Ten Democrats voted against the rule change that stalled the Colombia deal, while six Republicans voted in favour of it. John Tanner, a Tennessee Democrat, voted present.
Financial Times
