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U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12) and U.S. Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr. (NJ-09) wrote a letter to U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert E. Lighthizer calling on him to instill greater transparency in ongoing trade negotiations.

Dingell and Pascrell highlight that the USTR has failed to exercise suitable transparency or consult with Congress in several areas, including in the renegotiation of the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement and in issuing key reports. The letter also reminds Ambassador Lighthizer that he is required to name a Chief Transparency Officer to strengthen transparency and interbranch cooperation in trade.

“[W]ith the NAFTA renegotiation at a critical phase and the KORUS also under renegotiation, we are seriously concerned that you still have not designated an individual at USTR to serve as Chief Transparency Officer,” Dingell and Pascrell write.

“We will continue consulting and working with you on the specific concerns raised in our August letter and the additional concerns outlined here. This is critical to ensuring that Members of Congress, their staff, advisory committee members, and the public receive timely access to trade negotiation information so that we are accountable for U.S. trade policy to the fullest extent possible,” the letter concludes.

In August 2017, Reps. Pascrell and Dingell and 50 of their House colleagues wrote to Ambassador Lighthizer detailing their belief that guidelines formulated by the USTR did not adequately adhere to requirements passed by Congress.

The text of this week’s letter can be read below.

March 28, 2018

The Honorable Robert Lighthizer

United States Trade Representative

Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

600 17^th Street, NW

Washington, DC 20508

Dear Ambassador Lighthizer:

We received your recent response to a letter that we, along with 50 of our House Democratic colleagues, wrote to you in August 2017 (attached) to emphasize the importance of the requirements placed on USTR by the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 (TPA) to facilitate transparency, encourage public participation, and promote collaboration in the trade negotiations process.

In our August letter, we expressed our view that elements of the consultation guidelines developed by USTR in 2015, pursuant to TPA’s requirements, fell short of our expectations.  We identified a number of areas for improvement in USTR’s policies and guidelines for its engagement with Congress, including access to negotiating and related text authored by the Administration and other parties to trade negotiations. We would like to see increased access for Members of Congress, Congressional staff, the advisory committees, and the public. 

While we appreciate your written response to the letter, we were disappointed that it was sent nearly six months after your office received the original letter and that it failed to respond to the specific issues that we raised.  

In the meantime, while recognizing some of USTR’s more recent efforts to increase communications with Members of Congress and their staff, we continue to encounter frustrations with lapses in transparency and new deficiencies in consultative engagement.  These are exemplified by the following actions taken by the Administration: 

1. Initiation of the renegotiation of the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement (KORUS) without articulating specific objectives or process for the exercise;
2. Decision, to date, to adopt parameters for Congressional and cleared stakeholder consultations on the KORUS renegotiation that differ from and are significantly weaker than those USTR is employing in the NAFTA renegotiation; and
3. Failure to produce or publish reports called for by the President regarding causes of significant trade deficits, Buy American policies, and violations or abuses of WTO rules and trade agreements.

When we sent our letter last August, we also asked that you immediately designate a Chief Transparency Officer at USTR.  TPA requires that USTR appoint a Chief Transparency Officer whose responsibility is to “consult with Congress on transparency policy, coordinate transparency in trade negotiations, engage and assist the public, and advise the United States Trade Representative on transparency policy.”  More than six months later, with the NAFTA renegotiation at a critical phase and the KORUS also under renegotiation, we are seriously concerned that you still have not designated an individual at USTR to serve as Chief Transparency Officer. 

Earlier reports indicated that you intended to appoint incoming Deputy U.S. Trade Representative CJ Mahoney to fulfill this role.  Now that Amb. Mahoney is confirmed and sworn in, we congratulate and welcome him to his new role. We also urge you to formally designate Amb. Mahoney the USTR Chief Transparency Officer as soon as possible.  We welcome the opportunity to meet with Amb. Mahoney so that we may further discuss our expectations for the Chief Transparency Officer role and what a fully transparent process during trade negotiations and renegotiations should entail.

We will continue consulting and working with you on the specific concerns raised in our August letter and the additional concerns outlined here.  This is critical to ensuring that Members of Congress, their staff, advisory committee members, and the public receive timely access to trade negotiation information so that we are accountable for U.S. trade policy to the fullest extent possible.

Sincerely,