NAM Urges Trade Legislation To White House By July 4

ByJohn A. McClenahen Jerry J. Jasinowski, president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Manufacturers, is urging members of the U.S. House and Senate to quickly resolve their differences on so-called trade promotion authority (TPA) and have it on President Bush's desk for signature by July 4. That could be a tough deadline to meet. The Senate version of TPA, which provides for Congress to approve or reject but not amend trade pacts between the U.S. and foreign countries, contains two significant provisions that the House version does not. One expands assistance to workers who lose their jobs as a result of global trade shifts. The other essentially bars the weakening of U.S. anti-dumping laws. The House passed its version of TPA by a single vote on Dec. 6, 2001. And on Capitol Hill there are indications that support for TPA, once known as fast-track authority, has waned since then.