[CTC] Neal: Ross told lawmakers administration will trigger NAFTA consultations 'around March 15'

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Inside US Trade

Neal: Ross told lawmakers administration will trigger NAFTA consultations 'around March 15'
March 02, 2017
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross this week informed House Ways & Means Democrats that the Trump administration in mid-March will formally notify Congress of its intent to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, ranking member Richard Neal (D-MA) and other panel Democrats told Inside U.S. Trade.
 
“He made it clear, sometime around March 15th we'll be formally notified, that will commence the 90-day review period,” Neal said of the Feb. 28 meeting with Ross. “I think it was pretty clear they were going to be very aggressive in the renegotiation of NAFTA.”
 
Reps. Sandy Levin (D-MI), Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), Ron Kind (D-WI) and Neal all described the meeting as “good” and “very productive,” but said they do not believe the sit-down with Ross fulfills a consultation requirement under the 2015 Trade Promotion Authority law before the administration can move forward with the official talks.
 
They said Ross did not offer details on negotiating objectives for the NAFTA talks, which the administration is required to provide to Congress when formally notifying lawmakers of its intent to initiate trade negotiations.
 
“We don't have at this point a layout of what the administration would be requesting” from Canada and Mexico, Levin told Inside U.S. Trade, adding that President Trump's trade team is “nowhere near” formulating the required objectives.
 
Written notification to the Ways & Means and Senate Finance committees will trigger a 90-day consultation period before negotiations start. The TPA law spells out that the notice shall include “specific United States objectives for the negotiations,” and says that 30 days before negotiations begin the administration has to make public a “detailed and comprehensive summary of the specific objectives.”
 
“It's certainly one of their first priorities now that he's in place, but we didn't get a clear sense of what they hope to accomplish yet with any renegotiation,” Kind, who in the last Congress chaired the New Democratic Coalition, told Inside U.S. Trade.
 
“We tried to get clarification what they meant by trying to renegotiate NAFTA and I had a chance to impress upon him that before they start recreating the wheel that they take a glance at what was already negotiated in TPP that Mexico was agreeing to already,” Kind said, adding that Ross “didn't have much of a response to that.”
 
He said he would be surprised if the administration were to send the notice this month because “they're still trying to put their trade team together and they're still trying to establish that hierarchy.”
 
“Quite frankly they're still trying to put together their goals and objectives as to what NAFTA renegotiation actually means, so two weeks seems to be a very short period of time to expect all that to get resolved,” Kind added.
 
Pascrell noted that the law requires “close consultations” with Congress and said that as the ranking member of the trade subcommittee he would push for that.
 
“I think that will be a test run whether this administration meets what it says in terms of consultations,” Pascrell told Inside U.S. Trade. “It remains to be seen whether USTR will be driving the renegotiation or whether Ross will be steering trade policy going forward.”
 
He said Ross assured him “that they'd be following the limits of the statutory powers” on trade negotiations, adding, “I have to take secretary at his word right now – why would I not?”
 
Meanwhile, Neal said Ross “made it pretty clear that he's still the overseer of trade practices.”
 
Kind noted that the language in TPA “is more geared toward [the U.S. Trade Representative] initiating and taking the lead in the notification requirement attached to that.”
 
President Trump's pick for USTR, Robert Lighthizer, is still awaiting a confirmation hearing.
 
“So if Ross out of Commerce will be taking the lead, do they presume that that applies to Commerce then and to him specifically as far as notification? We're looking for greater clarification on that,” he said.
 
Pascrell said there is “danger” in using “a different protocol when you begin to renegotiate NAFTA with Ross” because “that is a new protocol for us; we usually talk to trade representative.” But, Pascrell added, Ross assured him that he will collaborate with the USTR.
 
Sources said the language in TPA does not require the USTR to conduct consultations but said it is the usual process because outlining the specific objectives requires the skill set of USTR staff. The law, however, does require the USTR to be the lead U.S. negotiator in trade agreements.
 
Levin said he is “not sure” whether discussing NAFTA with Ross “meets the formal requirements” that would allow the administration to move the process forward and said he thinks the USTR “has to be an active participant.”
 
“My guess is that regardless of all the speculation that all of them will participate. I think USTR should be in a lead position, but Commerce has participated before,” Levin said.
Pascrell told Inside U.S. Trade Ross “thinks that the meeting with us maybe triggers this negotiation,” but Kind said he got the impression it was “more a get-to-know-you meeting.”
 
“I don't think there was any real up-front discussion about 'this constitutes consultations under TPA – buckle up.'”
 
Ross told Bloomberg this week that the administration is “in consultations <https://insidetrade.com/node/157748> with the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways & Means Committee now,” adding: “That's the first step. Ultimately there'll be a 90-day note issued, and that is what will really kick off the negotiations.”
 
TPA also requires that the administration, “before and after submission of the notice, consult regarding the negotiations” with the committees of jurisdiction and the “House Advisory Group on Negotiations and the Senate Advisory Group on Negotiations.” Also, “upon request of a majority of the members of either” advisory group, the president “shall meet with the requesting congressional advisory group before initiating the negotiations or at any other time concerning the negotiations.”
 
Sources said meetings with those groups and the Senate Finance Committee have not been scheduled yet, which could put the mid-March time line in jeopardy.
 
Finance Committee members this week echoed their House colleagues' assessment that more details on the U.S. negotiating objectives for NAFTA talks are needed <https://insidetrade.com/node/157742>.
 
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) told Inside U.S. Trade on March 2 that meetings with White House National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro did not provide lawmakers with enough information.
 
“We just have to keep working at it, which I intend to do,” he said. “I know that they're a long way down the road. I'm not sure that they're ready to negotiate that with us at this point.”
Hatch said his committee will “certainly” schedule a meeting with Ross.
 
Sources said it is unlikely the Republican-controlled Congress would reject the formal notice of a Republican president, but Levin made clear the notice needs to meet the statutory requirements.
“They have to send us something meaningful,” he said. “Sure, we could object. Let's just see.” – Jenny Leonard (jleonard at iwpnews.com <mailto:jleonard at iwpnews.com>)
 
 
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