Senate Confirms Mike Froman as New USTR

The Senate has approved Mike Froman, a senior economic adviser to the White House, to succeed Ron Kirk as the newest US Trade Representative. Lawmakers backed Froman by a 93 to 4 margin last week, in what marked a relatively speedy confirmation process.

The new US trade chief is expected to quickly take on a heavy policy agenda, given the US’ efforts to conclude talks for a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement with eleven other countries by year’s end. The US has also launched negotiations for a bilateral trade deal with the EU, with the first round of talks scheduled for July in Washington.

On the multilateral front, WTO members are currently working to clinch a package of deliverables from the Doha Round negotiations in time for this December’s ministerial conference in Bali, Indonesia. Washington is also in discussions with a subset of WTO members for a possible plurilateral deal on services trade.

Notably, Froman has pledged to pursue the renewal of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), or “fast track” - seen as key for successfully concluding the EU and Trans-Pacific trade deals. The provision expired in 2007, and allows the executive branch to negotiate trade deals and then submit them to Congress for up-or-down votes, without amendments.