The Biden administration hopes to reach limited free trade agreements with countries in Europe and Asia that would not require congressional approval as it looks to ease allies’ concerns about legislation that President Biden signed into law last year, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said on Friday… Winning congressional approval for those free trade agreements would be difficult with Republicans in control of the House and some Democrats, such as Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, opposed to European companies benefiting from American tax credits. However, the Inflation Reduction Act does not specify how a free trade agreement is defined; Ms. Yellen said she thought it would be possible to devise more limited pacts so that the consent of Congress was not required. “It would be an agreement that would not require the agreement of Congress,” Ms. Yellen said, adding that she believed such agreements would be aligned with the intent that Congress had when it passed the law. “I think the word ‘free trade’ was meant to mean reliable friends and partners with whom we can feel we have secure supply chains.”
