despite the net positive welfare effects of free international trade, the debate
ID: 1173626 • Letter: D
Question
despite the net positive welfare effects of free international trade, the debate about free trade agreement is highly contentious. You probably know the intensity of the debate that is taking place about TPP, NAFTA, and other trade related issues going on in the US now. According to the US constitution, negotiating and ratifying free trade agreements with other countries is the sole duty of the congress, not the president. Yet, the US congress has often bestowed (given) that power to the president. This dates back to the end of WWII. Why do you think the US congress has given that power to the President?
Explanation / Answer
Several constitutional intellectuals suppose that the President by & large has power to terminate the United States international agreements, due to his comprehensive foreign affairs powers, &, partly, as Congress seems to have consented in unilateral termination by the president of pacts in the twentieth century. Whereas Congress has handed over wide-ranging trade authority to the President, particularly under the Trade Act ( 1974) & under the implementing statutes for all the American international trade agreements, it hasn’t overtly delegated to the President the authority to withdraw America from any of these agreements. In the twentieth century, a belief that the president is more able and effectual in the management of the country’s foreign affairs—& more probable to reach certain policy outcomes, like lower trade hurdles—caused Congress to relinquish ground to the president.
Before the 1930s, Congress itself normally set tariff rates for imported items. Over time, though, it increasingly handed over the power to the President to lessen tariffs, bound by statutorily set time periods, regular review & renewal. As the concentration of international trade agreements moved from tariffs to other non-tariff hurdles to trade, like antidumping duties, however, Congress became less inclined to allow the President to execute such measures thru presidential declaration. It stipulated legislative execution of international trade negotiations under an expedited process, as long as particular criteria were fulfilled
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