Sec. 2. Sense of Congress
526 words·~2 min read·
/bill/119/s/776/is/section-2A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
It is the sense of Congress that— the United States should pursue more open trade and investment relationships with its allies to strengthen the economy of the United States, improve the standard of living of the people of the United States, and advance the strategic interests of the United States; agreements to reduce or eliminate barriers to trade and investment between the United States and its allies will foster mutually beneficial economic relationships that advance the economic interests of workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses of all sizes in the United States; the shared values and long history of the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom present a unique opportunity to deepen the mutually beneficial economic and strategic relationship between those countries and further expand prosperity for the citizens of those countries; a high-standard, comprehensive trade agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom would help strengthen that relationship, improve the economic prospects of people in both countries, increase the resilience of critical supply chains, and create export opportunities for businesses of all sizes; the efforts of the United States-United Kingdom Trade and Investment Working Group and the bilateral negotiations initiated by President Donald J.
Trump have laid groundwork toward a comprehensive trade agreement; the United States-United Kingdom Dialogue on the Future of Atlantic Trade, initiated by President Joseph R. Biden, along with the signing of the document entitled Atlantic Declaration: A Framework for a Twenty-First Century U.S.-U.K. Economic Partnership , continued efforts to improve economic cooperation between the United States and United Kingdom; the robust labor and environmental protections in the United Kingdom reduce the risk of regulatory arbitrage that undercuts workers and businesses in the United States;
Congress passed the USMCA with overwhelming bipartisan support, setting high standards in North America with respect to labor rights, the environment, intellectual property, non-market practices, and services, and those standards should inform future negotiations; trade agreements with foreign trading partners that share the values and ambition of the United States offer an opportunity to build on the USMCA and set high international standards across many important policy areas; any trade negotiations between the United States and the United Kingdom must honor the agreement between the Government of Ireland and the Government of the United Kingdom signed on April 10, 1998 (commonly known as the Good Friday Agreement ), and any trade agreement between those countries must advance peace, stability, and prosperity in Ireland and Northern Ireland; the United Kingdom, like many key trading partners of the United States, is actively negotiating for expanded access to foreign markets, and the United States must likewise seek to advance its access to foreign markets to ensure that businesses, consumers, farmers, ranchers, and workers in the United States are not left behind; and to effectively pursue comprehensive trade negotiations with the United Kingdom for purposes of a trade agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom, Congress must grant new negotiating authority to the President, which should— enable the swift negotiation and passage through Congress of such an agreement; and be narrowly tailored to provide clear direction to the executive branch of the United States Government.