Inside U.S. Trade Quotes Brian Pomper on Future of US-UK Trade Talks

Brian Pomper, co-head of Akin Gump’s public law and policy practice, has been quoted by Inside U.S. Trade in the article “Analysts: Biden’s handling of UK talks likely to be steered by congressional considerations.” Pomper spoke at a recent webinar hosted by the Washington International Trade Association.

The article notes that President-elect Joe Biden has made clear that domestic issues are his priority—not forging new trade deals. If negotiations with the UK government are finalized by the time he takes office, though, he will have to make decisions about what to do with any agreement they might produce, says Inside U.S. Trade. Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), the article adds, could be extended solely for a U.S.-U.K. deal.

“I think that is a possibility and I wonder if that might not be the model that we can see going forward, where you have specific authorizations for specific negotiations in part because one of the criticisms that every administration has had is that consultations with Congress during the course of negotiations were insufficient,” said Pomper, a former chief international trade counsel to former Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus.

“One way to try to encourage sufficient consultations is to limit the degree of authority that’s offered so that it’s not broad based but narrow and specific,” Pomper added. “There are going to be conversations about whether we need the big broad based TPA that we've historically seen or if it’s more narrow and targeted.”