More Obama Trade Policy Theorizing

Andrew Schneider reports on Obama's trade priorities for the Kiplinger Letter:Obama’s First Trade Priority Is Helping Displaced U.S. Workers.  This is informed speculation, but it sounds plausible:

Barack Obama and the 111th Congress will move quickly to expand Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), which provides help for workers displaced by trade agreements....

But Obama won't reopen the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or other ratified free trade pacts, as he suggested he might while campaigning for the Democratic nomination.... At most, the new president will review existing agreements and try to negotiate for side agreements.

Odds are that both [The Columbian and Korean FTAS - Ben] agreements will pass eventually, for both political and economic reasons.... All the same, it's unlikely that Congress will take up either bill until late 2009 or early 2010....  By contrast, the FTA with Panama will pass Congress next year with little problem.

A fresh grant of trade promotion authority (TPA) will be a very low priority... Moreover, Obama doesn't plan to introduce any new free trade agreements in his first term. In the unlikely event of a breakthrough in the Doha Round of World Trade Organization talks, he'd be able to muster enough congressional votes to win passage even without TPA.