Transportation chief: Trade deal will help ports

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is endorsing legislation that would give the White House faster authority to negotiate trade deals with foreign nations, saying it would boost the nation’s ports.  

The fast-track legislation, formally known as trade promotion authority, would make it easier for the administration to negotiate trade deals by preventing Congress from amending them. 

Foxx applauded lawmakers in the Senate for reaching a deal on Thursday to move the fast-track trade measure, saying it would be a boon to U.S. ports that have struggled with labor issues in recent months.  

{mosads}“Congress has taken an important step in the right direction with the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation,” the Transportation chief said in a statement. “It will boost trade and strengthen the economy, especially in areas where that trade travels: in the port communities that dot our coasts and waterways. Importantly, the TPA will do all of this while setting new standards to protect our workers and our environment.” 

The fast-track track legislation is intended to ease negotiations on an agreement between the U.S. and 11 Latin American and Asian countries known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which would be the largest trade deal for the United States since the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada.

Some Democrats have been uneasy about the trade deal, but Foxx said lawmakers should approve the measure and move quickly to passing an extension of transportation funding that is currently scheduled to expire in May. 

“TPA legislation is one piece of the puzzle,” he said. “We also need a world-class, efficient transportation and freight network to help more goods travel through our ports and trade routes. Together, investments in transportation and modernized trade agreements will keep America the world’s best place to do business.” 

—Vicki Needham contributed to this report.