WASHINGTON, Aug 2: Congress granted US President George W. Bush broader negotiating authority on Thursday, clearing the way for him to complete the task his father set in motion: creating a Free Trade Area of the Americas.
The Senate voted 64-34 to allow the administration to negotiate free trade deals which the US Congress may ratify or reject but not amend.
The House of Representatives had approved the bill 215-212 in a vote largely along party lines Saturday, after a direct appeal from the President.
The so-called “fast track” authority lapsed in 1994 and lawmakers since then have been unable to reconcile largely partisan differences over how labour and environmental issues, as well as anti-dumping laws, would be affected.
The dealmaking took more than a year, during which time the Bush team slapped tariffs of up to 30 per cent on foreign steel and the Congress approved 10 billion dollars in agricultural subsidies.
Other members of the World Trade Organization now have the assurance that any agreements the Bush team negotiates will remain firm until they are ratified or rejected by Congress.
The World Trade Organization’s latest round of talks, in Doha, never quite got off the ground, as US negotiators’ hands were tied by legislators back home.
“I congratulate you all for achieving a historic moment in our nation,” Bush said after the vote.
The moment may indeed mark a historic turnaround, following recent decisions that have earned Bush’s administration a protectionist label from Japan, the European Union and the United States’ largest trading partner, Canada, which is in a running battle with Washington over softwood exports.
“America’s negotiating position is stronger when foreign governments are assured that complex trade agreements requiring extensive changes to US laws will be given a fast up-or-down vote,” said Steve Judge, of the Security Industry Association.
At a moment when Wall Street and US business are in turmoil, the impact of Thursday’s vote may be felt as far as Russia, China or India.
“What you all have done is make it much more likely that someone will be able to find work,” Bush said.
“I think this legislation is going to help restore US trade prestige worldwide, (and it is) desperately needed,” added Democratic Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus.
The United States needs to polish its image in Latin America after steel tariffs and farm subsidies angered Brazil and Argentina, where leaders seeking to revive sputtering economies could scuttle plans for a Free Trade Area of the Americas, whose 2005 deadline for wrapping up talks has been closing in while Bush and his predecessor, Bill Clinton, were denied fast-track authority.
It was Bush’s father, President George Bush, who gave impetus to the idea of a “free trade area from Alaska to Patagonia.” But the one-term president got as far as overseeing the North American Free Trade Agreement before his successor, Clinton, shepherded it through Congress before focusing on domestic issues.
“We have a full agenda,” Bush’s trade representative, Robert Zoellick, said after the vote.—AFP