Why Certain Trade Agreements Are Approved as Congressional-Executive Agreements Rather Than as Treaties

Trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements, and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) have been approved by majority vote of each House of Congress rather than by two-thirds vote of the Senate - that is, they have been treated as congressionalexecutive agreements rather than as treaties. The congressional-executive agreement has been the vehicle for implementing Congress' long-standing policy of seeking trade benefits for the United States through reciprocal trade negotiations. In a succession of statutes, Congress has authorized the President to negotiate and enter into tariff and nontariff barrier (NTB) agreements for limited periods, while permitting NTB and free trade agreements (FTAs) negotiated under this authority to enter into force for the United States only if they were approved by both houses in a bill enacted into public law and other statutory conditions were met. The President was granted temporary trade agreement negotiating authority utilizing this approval procedure in the Trade Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-210); the authority expires June 30, 2007. The Dominican Republic- Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) and an FTA with Bahrain were legislatively approved under Trade Act procedures in 2005. Pursuant to Trade Act notification requirements, the President officially informed Congress on January 6, 2006, of his intent to enter into an FTA with Peru. The Administration is also negotiating other FTAs as well as agreements in the WTO Doha Round under Trade Act authorities. A federal appellate court held in 2001 that the issue of whether the NAFTA should have been approved as a treaty rather than as a congressional-executive agreement was a nonjusticiable political question; the U.S. Supreme Court denied review in the case.


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1	97-896_08_03_2006.pdf	May 15, 2006	97-896	6	$19.95	Add to Cart

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