Article 1, Section 8, Clause 31 of the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the authority “To regulate commerce with foreign Nations”.
The longstanding efforts of the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Trilateral Commission, to implement their “New International Economic Order” relies on subverting the U.S. Constitution - their efforts are not always direct, and they have found alternative routes.
Case in point, International Treaties and Trade Agreements are intended to be negotiated by Congress, and require a 66 percent vote, subject to debate and amendments. That makes for more rigor in these negotiations and passage, particularly for those that may be more controversial in nature. An end-run would be for Congress to voluntarily cede this authority to the President, with just a 51 percent vote by Congress with limited debate and no amendments.
In 1974, Congress did just that and passed the Trade Promotion Authority legislation (TPA), also known as “Fast Track”:
Fast Track is an extreme delegation of Congress’ constitutional trade authority. It empowers a president to choose prospective trade partners, negotiate deals and sign a trade pact all before Congress has a vote on any element of it – and then railroad the deal through Congress in only 90 days with limited debate and no amendments. Thanks to Fast Track, U.S. trade pacts that are packed with corporate special giveaways and that promote the outsourcing of U.S. jobs have been rammed through Congress, including the original NAFTA, the agreement establishing the WTO and more.2
David Rockefeller’s Council of the Americas played an integral role in lobbying for this legislation3. Coincidently, Nelson Rockefeller was Vice President, and hence President of the Senate.
TPA has an automatic expiration date on it, but it is has been regularly renewed.
Most trade agreements are negotiated and passed normally by Congress - it’s only the more controversial ones that are passed via TPA, notably:
NAFTA - North American Free Trade Agreement
GATT Uruguay Round Agreements Act - this treaty provided for the creation of the World Trade Organization.
TPA’s selective use indicates it is a legislative tool used for circumventing constitutional requirements for our international trade.
Article 6, Clause 24 of the U.S. Constitution states that “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land”
TPA is an end-run around national sovereignty and has allowed considerable restructuring of U.S. law without resorting to a Constitutional Convention. The Trade Promotion Authority was an effective counter-move to the failed frontal assault by Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski who called for a Constitutional Convention as early as 1972.
We need to restore the authority and integrity of our existing U.S. Constitution as treaties are a backdoor to our sovereignty.
David Rockefeller, Memoirs, (Random House, 2011), p. 438.