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Demonstrators protest against the legislation to give President Obama fast-track authority to advance trade deals, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, during a protest march on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 21, 2015.(Photo: Saul Loeb, AFP/Getty Images)
Labor and consumer groups may have lost a key fight over trade pacts in the Senate on Friday, but they say the trouble is just beginning for President Obama and other proponents of his trade agenda in the House.
Still, more than 100 grass-roots events were planned over the Memorial Day weekend targeting House Democrats who support the six-year renewal of trade promotion authority (TPA).
This authority gives presidents an expedited way to get trade deals passed in Congress without amendments that labor groups here say are needed to protect U.S. workers and consumers.
The Senate overwhelmingly approved TPA, which is also known as "fast track authority," late Friday.
If passed by the House, the move would make it easier for Obama to get approval for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which includes countries in the Asia-Pacific region that make up about 40% of the world's economy.
But why should U.S. consumers care about any this?
Obama says he sees "smart trade agreements as a vital piece of middle-class economics" because they help U.S. companies sell their goods around the world.
Free trade is generally linked to lower prices for imported goods, as anyone who has shopped for Chinese-made goods at Walmart can attest to. Even free-trade skeptics acknowledge that much, but they say prices don't come down nearly as much as they should.
USA TODAY
Senate approves 'fast track' trade bill
"The benefits are not always passed on to consumers," says Thea Lee, deputy chief of staff at the AFL-CIO. When it's "$20 an hour vs. $1 an hour, the price of socks hasn't moved that much."
Lee, AFL-CIO's former chief international economist, says foreign-made goods are also sometimes cheaper because "they are made with child labor or underpaid labor," or under less-stringent safety laws, as with food.
"Obviously, consumers do care how goods are made," she says.
As for labor claims that giving presidents fast-track authority would undermine safety and regulations in the U.S., Obama says his critics are "making this stuff up."
"No trade agreement is going to force us to change our laws," he said in a recent speech at Nike headquarters in Oregon.
Critics say the World Trade Organization's move this week on meat labeling suggests the president is wrong. The WTO ruled American regulations requiring the meat industry to use country-of-origin labels violates the North American Free Trade Agreement.
"When the WTO rules against us, Congress has no choice whether to change our laws," Lee says.
If it doesn't, the WTO could sanction the U.S., which could lead to higher tariffs.
Other labor and consumer group concerns:
• Drug prices. Foreign corporations, especially drug companies, would have more power, says Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizens's Global Trade Watch. The TPP would establish new rules that could undermine efforts here to keep drug prices down and reduce access to low-cost generics by extending patents.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, right, talks with U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 21, 2015, prior to their testifying before the Senate Finance Committee hearing on fast-track authority.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Evan Vucci, AP)
• Safety. The TPP also requires the U.S. to accept imports that don't meet our standards, Wallach says. If an exporting country says their food safety rules are equivalent to those here, the U.S. would have to allow the products in or risk being charged with creating trade barriers.
• Corporate influence. The agreement expands the use of private foreign arbitrators, who could challenge domestic laws outside of our court system, Wallach says. Obama says the deal actually gives the U.S. more of an opportunity to write "the rules of the global economy."
While Public Citizen and the AFL-CIO say fast-track authority for trade deals will have a much tougher time in the House, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, recently said he's confident it will pass. To those who might want to block the measure because of any animosity toward Obama, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., reminded Republicans that the six-year deal will extend well into the next president's term as well.
Despite Public Citizen's optimism that fast-track authority will have a very tough time in the House, it isn't taking any chances. Opponents, including people worried about drug prices, environmentalists and even church groups, are showing up at events, picnics and the offices of Democrats supporting fast-track authority this weekend.
"The Presbyterians are kicking butt and taking names," Wallach says.
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