With the U.S. Senate poised this week to debate and vote on whether to give President Obama “fast-track authority” to finish a trade deal with 11 nations across the Pacific Rim, Colorado’s two senators are bucking a rising tide of short-sighted protectionism.
Both, to their credit, intend to support fast-track authority for an up-or-down vote in Congress on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal.
Such a vote may be more difficult for Sen. Michael Bennet, since Democratic stalwarts in the union and environmental movements are opposing fast track and are skeptical of free trade in general. And Bennet is up for re-election in 2016.
Still, he was among a bipartisan coalition on the Senate Finance Committee last month voting 20-6 (with seven Democrats total) to send fast track forward.
A Bennet spokesman told us the senator is working to ensure that any deal avoid mistakes of past agreements. In addition, the senator sponsored an amendment approved by the committee that would block countries that manipulate their currencies — China being the biggest culprit — from being part of future agreements. And it would give U.S. authorities greater leverage against them.
It is widely thought that some countries boost their exports by deliberately undervaluing their currencies.
China is not part of the TPP.
Republican Sen. Cory Gardner believes TPP is potentially “one of the big legacy acts of this decade.”
He’s right. And with U.S. tariffs already lower than those of many nations in the talks, this nation stands to benefit more than most.
“While the crises of the day have drawn our attention to the Middle East, our long-term interests lie” with East Asia, Gardner told us. And he points out that the nations involved in the TPP, which represent 40 percent of the global economy, would “all prefer a U.S.-led order over a Chinese-led order.”
“This is beyond just an economic arrangement,” he said. “It’s strategic, too.”
Despite reservations among many Democrats (and some Tea Party-type Republicans), the Obama administration seems to appreciate the magnitude of the moment and is going to the mat for fast-track authority. The president has even taken to rebuking members of his own party, such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, for making misleading claims against the TPP.
Let’s hope the full Senate has been listening.
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