WASHINGTON, Dec 22: With two major trade successes under his belt including a nailbiter in the House of Representatives US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick is planning an ambitious agenda for 2002, including new bilateral free trade talks with several countries.
I expect to be on the road a fair amount next year, Zoellick said at an end-of-the-year news conference.
In addition to finishing negotiations on bilateral free trade agreements with Chile and Singapore early next year, Zoellick said he expected to consult with Congress on launching talks with other potential free trade partners such as Australia, Central America and countries in Africa.
I’d like to have a mix of developed and developing countries, Zoellick said. I’d love to try to have a free trade agreement with an African country.
Zoellick, who hopes to visit Africa early in 2002, said he already has had preliminary discussions with South African Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin.
It is more likely South Africa would want to negotiate an agreement involving several neighboring countries rather than an individual pact with the United States, he said.
Zoellick also told reporters on Thursday he planned to meet with Russia Trade Minister German Gref in the spring for talks on Moscow’s bid to join the World Trade Organization.
They’re making real progress. Clearly this is a priority of President (Vladimir) Putin’s, he said.
Zoellick’s first year as the thirteenth US trade representative ended with two major victories.
Member countries of the WTO agreed last month in Doha, Qatar, to launch a new round of world trade talks. That reversed the group’s failure two years earlier in Seattle and avoided what many said would be a crippling blow to the world trading system if efforts failed again.
Three weeks later, the House approved by a 215-214 vote a bill to give the Bush administration expanded trade negotiating authority. Although the Senate still has to act, the House vote was a major step forward in restoring the authority to the executive branch for the first time in almost eight years.
For negotiations on the “Doha development agenda” to finish by the goal of 2005, we need to try to get off to as quick a start as possible, Zoellick said.
It also could require more direct involvement by trade ministers in the form of periodic small group meetings than in past negotiations, he said.
Meanwhile, WTO talks on agricultural subsidies and anti-dumping rules should help efforts to craft the proposed “Free Trade Area of the Americas” pact, also by 2005, he said.
The United States has refused to negotiate on those two issues in the regional forum, despite the keen interest of Brazil and many other Latin American countries that would be part of the 34-nation free trade agreement.
Despite the initial victory on “trade promotion authority,” critics say Zoellick’s push for the bill led to a largely unnecessary fight in the House that further split the Democratic party on trade.
They note the Clinton administration was able to negotiate major trade agreements, such as one approved last year with China, without the legislation.
However, Zoellick has insisted the authority under which Congress gives up its right to amend trade agreements, but can still reject them was needed to persuade other countries to negotiate seriously with the United States.
With the Senate likely to pass a slightly different version of trade promotion authority, the House faces another vote on a final compromise bill before the measure becomes law.
Zoellick said he remained optimistic of final victory on the issue, despite sore feelings in the House.
A last-minute deal to secure the vote of textile state lawmakers by taking some trade benefits away from Caribbean nations was unfortunate, Zoellick said.
Zoellick said renewal of the 10-year-old Andean Trade Preferences Act, which expired on Dec. 4, was another early legislative priority. The legislation provides duty-free access on a long list of goods from Colombia, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador to provide alternatives to cocaine production.—Reuters