A victory for American manufacturing, but there are more fights to come.
Bad news for people who like flawed trade deals: The Senate just voted down a motion for cloture for “fast track” Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation. That’s a lot of lingo, but what it essentially means is the formal debate is on hiatus.
It looks like there were some pretty slippery assurances from Senate leaders that a handful of related pieces of trade legislation (including one that would deal with Chinese currency manipulation) would be considered in tandem. Because there were no solid assurances made, the vote failed. Now it’s back to the drawing board for the trade deal’s champions in the Senate.
That’s good news for people who like trade deals that come with serious trade enforcement provisions. Currency manipulation in particular is a serious impediment to stateside job creation, and vast majorities of voters want it fixed via America’s trade agreements. Those folks ought to be as happy as we are today. Because, put simply, here’s where TPA stands:
Takeaway on the #TPA motion to proceed vote: it's currency or bust. Bipartisan majorities in House/Senate want it, @BarackObama doesn't.
— Scott Paul (@ScottPaulAAM) May 12, 2015