The Trump administration has caused a lot of controversy by proposing a "sunset clause" for the NAFTA, under which the agreement would expire automatically after five years unless the parties agree to renew it. That proposal has come under a lot of criticism, and personally I think it adds uncertainty without offering much in the way of benefits. However, I do think a periodic review of trade agreements is worthwhile. So, instead of a sunset clause, what about adopting this proposal from an Australian Labor Party MP:
Ten year independent review of free trade agreements
There is also a lot we can learn from the trade deals we have already done - where they have worked and where they haven't.
At the moment there is no independent economic analysis of the existing free trade deals we have signed to see if the benefits we were promised have been delivered.
These are big deals. We should know what the impact of them has been.
Again this sort of information has been called for from a number of organisations including the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
If we win the next election a Shorten Labor Government will do this. We will instruct the Productivity Commission to conduct 10 year reviews of free trade agreements.
I see a lot of value in this. It will identify the sorts of things we should do differently in future agreements – and what we should seek to change in these ones.
Good companies do this. It’s the best way to learn and improve. Governments should do the same thing.
It will also put the heat on governments and the bureaucracy to try to get as much out of these agreements as we can. That’s not happening at the moment.
Compared to other countries we massively under-utilise the trade deals we sign.[18] Part of that is because a lot of exporters don’t even know if an FTA applies to their business.[19] Part of it is the complex, technical nature of these deals. And part of it is problems with market access. I’ll talk more about how we can tackle that in a moment.
The U.S. doesn't have an entity exactly like the Productivity Commission. Maybe the ITC could do the analysis; maybe the GAO; maybe some new entity.
What I have in mind is not a modelling exercise, in which someone comes up with estimates of GDP growth. Rather, it should be a qualitative analysis of the specific effects of each part of the agreement.
