Is this paragraph accurate?
The US Trade Representative and the Obama administration have asked Congress to “fast track” the treaty, passing it without any debate or revisions. Naturally, Congress wants to know what the treaty is likely to say before they agree to this.
The “fast track” authority means Congress agrees to pass or fail the treaty, after receiving and reading the proposed treaty, with plenty of debate (but no revisions).
All trade agreements require each side to give up something of value and get something of value. Clearly, if Congress reserved to itself the authority to revise the treaty line by line, Congress would retain all the provisions where other countries give up something and cut all the provisions where the United States gives up something.
It is fine to oppose this treaty. Quite possibly, it underemphasizes development oriented gains for poor countries and overemphasizes intellectual property rights (a critical issue about which I have learned a ton from boingboing over the years). But, let’s be fair and accurate about the role of trade promotion authority.
