WASHINGTON, D.C. (NAFB) – A trade deal “moratorium” is how the top House trade Republican sees the Biden trade agenda, lacking hard commitments from Trade Ambassador Katherine Tai to possible new or expanded agreements.

Tai had already testified at Senate Finance that new trade deals had to wait for reviews and the pandemic, and was now in front of House Ways and Means and its Ranking Member Kevin Brady.

Adding that the time is right for new trade deals.

Katherine Tai was a trade staffer on Ways and Means before becoming USTR and has strong bipartisan support but cannot get ahead of the White House on trade policy, including Trade Promotion Authority. Without TPA, now expiring, no president can speed deals through Congress on up-or-down votes without amendments that discourage trading partners from making deals with the U.S.

But Ambassador Tai told lawmakers that any renewal of TPA must have strong bipartisan support. That’s not been the case in recent decades, and lacking a ready-to-go deal, there’s no pressure now for Congress to act.