§4206 Treatment of Certain Trade Agreements for Which Negotiations Have Already Begun

Summary

The President can treat some trade talks that started before June 29, 2015 differently from the usual pre-negotiation notice rules. This applies to deals under the World Trade Organization; talks with the Trans‑Pacific Partnership countries that had proper notifications by June 29, 2015; talks with the European Union; and WTO talks on services or on environmental goods that had proper notifications by June 29, 2015. If the President quickly tells Congress about those talks, explains the U.S. goals and whether he wants a new deal or changes, and talks with the relevant congressional trade committees and the House and Senate advisory groups both before and after that notice, Congress cannot use certain procedural objections to block the implementing bills just because the usual early-notice rule was not followed. For an APEC agreement to cut duties on certain environmental goods listed in Annex C of the APEC Leaders Declaration of September 9, 2012, the President may use his proclamation power without the usual prior notice if he notifies Congress as soon as possible after December 18, 2015 (and a related provision uses February 24, 2016) and does so before issuing the proclamation.