CRS Reports on Trade Talk Results as Agreements and Not Treaties
The Congressional Research Service has issued a report (97-896) entitled, "Why Certain Trade Agreements Are Approved as Congressional-Executive Agreements Rather Than as Treaties," which states that the congressional-executive agreement has been the vehicle for implementing Congress’s long-standing policy of seeking trade benefits for the United States through reciprocal trade negotiations.
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U.S. trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), World Trade Organization agreements, and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) have been approved by majority vote of each house rather than by two-thirds vote of the Senate—that is, they have been treated as congressional-executive agreements rather than as treaties. The report also notes that a federal appeals court held in 2001 that the issue of whether the NAFTA should have been approved as a treaty was a nonjusticiable political question.