Fast track (trade)

The Fast track negotiating authority (also called Trade Promotion Authority, TPA) for trade agreements is the authority of the President of the United States to negotiate agreements that the Congress can approve or disapprove but cannot amend or filibuster. Fast-track negotiating authority is granted to the president by Congress. It was in effect pursuant to the Trade Act of 1974 from 1975 to 1994 and was restored in 2002 by the Trade Act of 2002. It expired at midnight on July 1, 2007.

Enactment and history

The laws that create fast track appear in sections 151 through 154 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended. (, §§ 151-154; , 2001–08; .) Sections 2103 through 2105 of the Trade Act of 2002 extended and conditioned their application. (, §§ 2103-2105; , 1004–16; .)

Congress enacted fast track in the Trade Act of 1974. Pursuant to that grant of authority, Congress then enacted implementing legislation for the Trade Agreements Act of 1979, 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). The authority then expired in 1994.

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......
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