The Trade Muddle: A Primer

Crossing All The "T"s Will Not Dot The "I"s:  Some Of The Politics Of Trade

            Which comes first, TPP (the "Trans-Pacific Partnership") or TPA ("Trade Promotion Authority")?  Alphabetically, and logically, TPA.  Strategically, TPP.  Politically, neither is likely to come at all. Nor, then, is TTIP the "Trans-Atlantic Trade And Investment Partnership"), which would be the most important of the "T"s for trade, and for economic development, and the only one with an "I" to dot.  It is way behind TPA and TPP — on the calendar, in negotiation, and in political prospects. 

TPA refers to "Trade Promotion Authority," the nomenclature assigned by the Bush Administration to "fast track" during the period when the Bush Administration seemed to believe it necessary to rename anything associated with the Clinton Administration.  Fast Track expired in 1994.  Congress declined to restore or renew TPA to Clinton in his second term.  Bush, placing a high priority on