On trade, it’s put up or shut up

Throughout all of this, administration officials and the few free trade Democrats in Congress have quietly reassured the US business community that America’s free trade legacy will re-emerge once the contentious health care debate is over.  In September 2009, Transportation Department officials told a concerned group of affected exporters that the White House would not resolve the Mexican trucking dispute because the President needed Teamster support for ObamaCare.  And at an October 2009 event, Reps. Cuellar and John Tanner (D-TN) assured their audience that the FTAs would progress once the health care debate ended.

Well, folks, health care’s over.  Time to put up or shut up.

Most of the United States’ current trade irritants are within the White House’s control to fix, as long as the President willing to expend an iota of political will to get things done.  Signed U.S. FTAs have already been ratified by the partners countries and now only require the President to send their respective implementing legislation to Congress for ratification.  While many congressional Democrats will resist such legislation, Obama can expect significant support from Republicans, many of whom, like House Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Kevin Brady (R-TX), have routinely called on the President to submit the trade deals.  Other issues show similar potential for bi-partisan resolution.  All they require is an end to the White House’s politically-motivated ambivalence.

In late June, Washington will turn its attention to the November mid-term elections, and controversial legislation will become untouchable.  If President Obama and his free trade supporters really mean what they’ve said over the past year about the President’s commitment to free trade, the White House will move on one or more of the unresolved trade issues before this “silly season” begins.

If, on the other hand, June comes and goes, and these issues are still unsettled because of the administration’s political calculations, then the die will have been cast.  And no amount of excuses will be able to convince American businesses and consumers that this President really cares about free trade.

Scott Lincicome is an international trade attorney in Washington, D.C.  He is the author of the 2009 Cato Institute Study, “Audaciously Hopeful: How President Obama Can Restore the Free Trade Consensus,” and blogs at http://lincicome.blogspot.com.