Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he had a productive meeting this week with U.S. Trade Ambassador Michael Froman where the two agreed on the need for getting trade promotion authority passed for the President. Grassley says based on his talk with Froman that he sees TPA coming up during the next session of Congress and hopefully passed.
TPA allows the President to negotiate trade deals with just an up or down vote by Congress. Grassley was asked if that might not be a double edged sword in giving TPA to the President especially if he gave in to Japan’s tariff demands in the Trans Pacific Partnership talks.
Grassley says there was a bipartisan TPA bill put in back in January but it sat idle all year as Majority leader Harry Reid held it up. He says when the Senate comes back early next year there will be a good chance to get it approved.