The fast track authority for brokering trade agreements is the authority of the President of the United States to negotiate international agreements in an expedited manner and with limited congressional oversight. Renamed the trade promotion authority (TPA) in 2002, the TPA is an impermanent power granted by Congress to the President. It remained in effect from 1975 to 1994, pursuant to the Trade Act of 1974 and from 2002 to 2007 pursuant to the Trade Act of 2002. Although it technically expired in July 2007, it remained in effect for agreements that were already under negotiation until their passage in 2011. In June 2015, a third renewal passed Congress and was signed into law by President Barack Obama.
Under the TPA, the President's trade negotiations must follow guidelines and negotiating objectives set by Congress. If the negotiations follow the negotiating objectives, the implementing bill may pass Congress on majority votes instead of the three-fifths threshold normally needed in the Senate to conclude debate on a bill or the two-thirds threshold for the Senate to ratify a treaty. Congress may not amend or filibuster the implementing bill. The TPA is the mechanism used by the U.S. government to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement as well as other congressional-executive agreements. It has been praised for allowing the government to negotiate trade deals which would otherwise have been impossible to complete. However, it has also been criticized for usurping congressional powers and for lacking transparency.