President Bush Notifies Congress of His Intent to Sign FTA with Bahrain
On May 27, 2004, the U.S. and Bahrain completed a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) under which the U.S. and Bahrain will provide immediate duty-free access on virtually all of the products in their tariff schedules and will phase out tariffs on the remaining handful of products within 10 years.
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On June 15, 2004, President Bush notified Congress of his intent to sign an FTA with Bahrain. (Under the provisions of the Trade Act of 2002's Bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority Act of 2002, the President is required to notify Congress at least 90 days in advance of signing an FTA with Bahrain.)
After FTA is Signed, Next Step is Enactment of Implementing Legislation
Once the FTA with Bahrain is signed, the next step would be for the President to formally submit the U.S.-Bahrain FTA implementing legislation package (U.S.-Bahrain FTA, implementing legislation, and statement of administrative action) to Congress. Congress will then have 90 legislative days to consider the U.S.-Bahrain FTA implementing legislation, which cannot be amended.
If the U.S.-Bahrain FTA implementing legislation is passed by Congress (both House and Senate), it could then be signed into law by the President, who would subsequently issue a proclamation implementing the U.S.-Bahrain FTA.
Although Administration sources state that their "goal" is to complete the above steps in 2004 so that the U.S.-Bahrain FTA could take effect as early as January 1, 2005, these sources note that Congress' schedule, the fall 2004 elections, and other factors could impact the achievement of this goal.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 06/01/04 news, 04060110, for BP summary announcing that the U.S. and Bahrain had reached agreement on an FTA.)
Presidential notification (dated 06/15/04) available at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/06/20040615-10.html.
Presidential letter to Congress (dated 06/15/04) available at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/06/20040615-11.html.