Rob Portman in Bloomberg.com


On Free Trade: Negotiated fast-track under Bush; but slowing it under Obama

Senator Ron Wyden [D-OR] has become the White House's chief congressional ally on free trade, helping Pres. Obama and the US Trade Representative push for a bill to streamline the passage of trade deals, alienating liberal activists. Wyden is even up against some key Republicans, including former US Trade Representative Rob Portman, who was once in charge of negotiating such treaties under Pres. Bush. Now a senator from Ohio, he's teamed up with Sen. Chuck Schumer [D-NY] to put fast track on a slower track by requiring treaties to include enforceable prohibitions against countries' suppressing their currencies to gain a competitive advantage--a move the Treasury Secretary warned in a letter would "likely derail" a Pacific trade deal. Steelmakers and automakers favor the Portman amendment, which he says he'll bring to the floor after it failed in committee. "It's about how to say with a straight face to the people who we're hired by, 'This is going to be good for you,'?" Portman said.
Source: Bloomberg News coverage of 2016 Ohio Senate race May 2, 2015

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