Trade Promotion Authority—or TPA—is a partnership between Congress and the administration that ensures the United States secures the most effective trade agreements possible. TPA also brings greater transparency to the negotiating process by empowering Congress to conduct vigorous oversight and hold the administration accountable. Transparency TPA guarantees Congress a… Read more

Opponents of expanding American exports are going to great lengths to attack trade promotion authority (TPA) as well as a trade agreement currently being negotiated with our Asia–Pacific partners and allies, called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The latest is to tie these trade measures to the president’s immigration agenda—and it has no basis in fact. For starters, temporary… Read more

Editorial boards across the country are speaking out in favor of expanding U.S. trade with other countries. With 96 percent of the world's customers outside the U.S., American job creators need to sell more products overseas to create more jobs here at home. And these opinion leaders understand that the first key step to expanding U.S. trade is passing trade promotion authority. The… Read more

Trade-deal doomsayers are raising a stink about one of the more mundane procedures of trade law: the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). These critics are determined to torpedo job-creating trade agreements, and they’re leaving no hyperbole behind. The way they tell it, ISDS panels are corporate shills that gut public-safety regulations and undermine U.S. sovereignty. Do they have… Read more

Expanding and deepening trade relationships produces stronger national security. That was the message today from newly confirmed Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter. And he's calling for a "full-court press" to advance American trade with other nations.  Speaking at the Global Chiefs of Mission Conference in Washington, Secretary Carter noted that "by… Read more

Every president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt has had some mechanism like trade promotion authority (TPA) to help advance America’s trade agenda. Otherwise, it’s difficult to complete agreements and get the best deals from our trading partners. Still, some have asserted that our 40th president, Ronald Reagan, didn’t have or need TPA to expand trade. That, however, is just a myth. The… Read more

American job creators need fair and strong rules that hold people in other countries accountable when they violate our intellectual property rights. And that’s one more reason why we need to pass trade promotion authority (TPA). A healthy economy requires strong protections for intellectual property, as a study by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office shows. The study finds: … Read more

Here's a stat: 98 percent of American exporters are small- and medium-sized companies—and they represent 40 percent of the value of U.S. exporters. It’s no secret that small businesses drive a healthy economy, but less understood is that they stand to gain enormously from breaking down barriers to trade with other nations.  Of course, 96 percent of the world’s customers live… Read more

Support for expanding American trade spans the ideological spectrum, and now a bipartisan group of former top presidential economic advisors is underscoring that fact. In a letter to congressional leaders, 14 men and women who served as chair of the President's Council of Economic Advisers are calling on Congress to pass trade promotion authority, noting that it… Read more

The disturbing news from the Pacific is that China continues to beef up construction in disputed territory and spread its brand of “state capitalism.” At the same time, our allies question whether the United States is truly committed to being a world leader. In Europe, Russia continues its belligerence, and Europe is unable to respond effectively because of its dependence on Russian… Read more