Bipartisan Bill to Offer Fast Track for UK Trade Deal Introduced
Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and John Thune, R-S.D., recently introduced a bill called Undertaking Negotiations on Investment and Trade for Economic Dynamism (United) Act, which would use the last trade promotion authority's language to authorize a free-trade negotiation with the U.K.
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Calling the U.K. "one of our largest trading partners and closest allies," Coons said in a March 2 news release announcing the bill that a "comprehensive free trade agreement with the United Kingdom would advance our country’s strategic and economic interests while creating new economic opportunities for Delaware workers, businesses, and consumers."
Thune was quoted in the release saying such an FTA "would reduce costs for consumers, improve supply chain resilience, and open new markets for U.S. producers."
Coons had introduced a similar bill last year with Sen. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican who has since retired from the Senate.
Coons and Thune noted the U.K. and the EU recently agreed on post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland, which would maintain the Good Friday protocol. Ambiguity on how the Ireland-Northern Ireland border would be treated post-Brexit was a hurdle for powerful Democrats who were otherwise very supportive of an FTA with the U.K. (see 2302270051). The ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., said after the Windsor Framework: "I appreciate the steadfast commitment and compromise by both sides to find common ground to resolve the trade frictions related to the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland."