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Fast Track Authority
Fast Track Authority (TPA)
The TPA is under the jurisdiction of the US President, and is intended to expedite the negotiations of trade agreements so Congress can approve or disapprove them, but can not seek to amend or filibuster the FTAs. TPA is granted to the president by Congress and was in effect from 1974 until 1994, and was reenacted in 2002, though it expired on July 1 2007.
The TPA was a significant tool used by the US government to enact numerous FTAs between 2002 and 2007, including FTAs between the US and Chile, Singapore, Australia, Morocco and the member states of DR-CAFTA. Though the TPA expired in July of 2007, the authority for Congressional consideration to utilize TPA remains for pending FTAs between Colombia, Panama and Peru, because they were all signed before the deadline.
TPA is partially problematic because it removes the capacity of the US Congress to inject FTAs with stronger labor and human rights clauses, unless they aim to derail the agreement as a whole. This gives Congress the capacity to utilize a sort of “all or nothing” policy approach, but debilitates their capacity to make adjustments to trade agreements from within.
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