For the Clinton Administration, doing without fast-track authority will mean a tougher time in trade negotiations.
Hence Mr Clinton's attempt last year to win fast-track authority on the Republicans' terms.
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Leaders there surely will want to hear what Clinton says about the chances for renewed fast-track authority.
Fast-track authority is one of the most important devices in the U.S.'s toolkit for establishing trade agreements.
Without the president having fast track authority, the U.S. cannot play a role in any of these deals.
Fast-track authority gives the president unbridled power to negotiate trade deals, which Congress then votes up or down but cannot amend.
And, running the risk of alienating fellow Democrats, Clinton will call anew for so-called fast-track authority to negotiate international trade deals.
Meanwhile, Vice President Al Gore called on Congress to give Clinton the so-called fast track authority to negotiate free trade agreements.
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Given the rude health of the American economy over the past few years, the administration's failure to win fast-track authority seems remarkable.
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However, it seems likely that Democrats are going to flex their muscles on trade issues before returning fast track authority to any president.
His officials have at times warned Congress that, if it does not give him fast-track authority, European rivals will grab a rising share of the Latin American market.
That said, both NAM and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce want to see the Doha talks resumed, and they're pushing hard for a renewal of the president's fast-track authority.
If the deal is not completed by Saturday, it will not be eligible for consideration under the president's fast-track authority to negotiate trade agreements, which expires at the end of June.
And though Latin Americans are sceptical of negotiating with a president who lacks fast-track authority, it is, after all, at the end, not the start, of talks that that authority is required.
Finally, the plan even includes a provision for free trade, giving the President renewed fast track authority to negotiate further trade agreements eliminating foreign trade barriers and opening new markets for American goods.
An agreement had to be reached by midnigh U.S. time on April 1 in order to be considered for fast-track approval by the U.S. Congress, the required 90 days before the current fast-track authority expires.
But oddly, the expiration of Bush's fast-track authority is not as damaging as it might seem at first--mainly because the administration has done just about all it can do on free trade deals for now.
President Bill Clinton plans to meet with economic and political advisors this afternoon to discuss a revised administration plan to push for House passage of legislation granting the president fast-track authority to negotiate free trade deals.
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The Bush administration has four free trade agreements pending in Congress right now, and it is not likely to send any more to the Hill because lawmakers did not renew the president's fast-track authority to negotiate trade deals.
Fast track authority, which allows the president to negotiate trade deals that Congress can then only approve or disapprove but not amend, expired in 2007, and it would require quite a breakthrough for Congress to approve it again.
Every American president since 1974 -- Democrat and Republican alike -- has had the authority to negotiate new trade agreements called fast-track negotiating authority, which permits the agreements to be presented in a package to the Congress to be approved -- up or down.
American farmers, keen to export, have been lobbying for a renewal of fast-track negotiating authority.
If Clinton gets his way, fast-track trade authority legislation will be back, too.
Without fast track negotiating authority, the prospects for such a deal are minimal.
Also, it would have secured by now the fast-track negotiating authority so essential to the viability of future free-trade initiatives.
Although nobody yet talks of it publicly, one popular revised deadline is 2007, the year that Mr Bush's fast-track negotiating authority expires.
"Fast track" authority gives the president unbridled power to broker trade agreements, which are then subject to an up or down vote by Congress.
Congress should renew the President's "fast-track" authority to negotiate trade agreements.
The U.S. Congress can be counted on for even less, which is why George Bush had to do a deal while he has "fast track" authority.
And Congress is in no mood to grant it fast-track negotiating authority, without which America lacks the power to strike trade deals and so cannot negotiate credibly.
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