A group of Republican lawmakers from the House Ways and Means Committee asked President Joe Biden to renew the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA).

The last term of the TPA ran from mid-2015 to July 1, 2021.

Republican lawmakers, including Kevin Brady (TX), called on the Biden Administration to renew the TPA to compete with China’s advance.

China is the main exporter of merchandise trade in 2020 and accounted for 13% of the world total (compared to 12% in 2019), with 2 trillion 323,000 million dollars, according to data from the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Lawmakers also argued that doing so would allow American workers and businesses to compete in the global economy.

The message was sent this Monday in a letter addressed to President Biden and the United States Trade Representative, Katherine Tai.

Signed by 18 Republican lawmakers, the letter asks President Biden to initiate consultations with Congress to renew the TPA.

TPA

The TPA grants the US executive the power to carry out commercial negotiations, and present the signed agreements to Congress, for it to ratify or disapprove, without modifying their content.

Without it, the chances of success of any negotiation are seriously diminished, since the current administration cannot guarantee that the results of the negotiation will be approved by the legislature in its terms.

Some members of the US Congress have pressured the Biden Administration to continue with trade negotiations with Kenya, which will have presidential elections in 2022, and with the United Kingdom, which maintains a tight agenda of trade negotiations after its departure from the European Union.

The Biden Administration has not clarified its position on the possible resumption of the FTA negotiations with the United Kingdom and Kenya, nor the possible entry of the United States into the The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).