 |
|
|
 News from Around the Americas | July 2005 
White House Must Work To Win CAFTA - Gutierrez
 ABC News
| | A Nicaraguan woman holds her daughter as she takes part in a protest against the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in front of the National Assembly building in Managua. |
The Bush administration has "a lot of work to do" to win approval of a controversial free-trade agreement with Central America but will succeed when the House of Representatives votes next week, said U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.
"CAFTA is not going to fail and we will get the votes," Gutierrez said in an interview with Reuters reporters and editors. "That doesn't mean that we don't have a lot of work to do over the next week or so."
The U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, is by far the most controversial trade pact the Bush administration has negotiated. It faces stiff opposition from many Democrats who complain the agreement's labor and environment provisions are too weak.
Many Republicans from textile and sugar-producing states also oppose CAFTA because of feared job losses.
Gutierrez expressed frustration in particular with sugar-industry opposition, which could be the decisive factor in whether the pact is approved or rejected.
"It's just not fair to hold something back that is good for the rest of the country because one industry has a problem that we don't believe is grounded," Gutierrez said.
Rejection of CAFTA would damage the United States' ability to negotiate other agreements, including a new world-trade pact that already is years behind schedule, Gutierrez said.
"This is not the time to be sending mixed signals and confusing people regarding whether we are still free traders or the United States is becoming protectionist or isolationist. That would be a very negative signal," he said.
Administration Mulling China Bill
On a related issue, Gutierrez said the Bush administration was still evaluating a separate bill allowing U.S. companies to seek protection against subsidized Chinese goods.
Those companies can already seek anti-dumping duties on imports from China, but they want to be able to seek countervailing -- or anti-subsidy -- duties as well.
The Commerce Department has long had a policy of not applying countervailing duties against imports from newmarket economies like China because of the difficulty of determining actual subsidy levels in those countries.
House Republican leaders are backing legislation that would change that policy as part of a deal to win the vote of Rep. Phil English of Pennsylvania -- and they hope other industrial state Republicans -- for CAFTA.
"We have agreed to take a look at what has been proposed and to see if there's some logic there, if it's actually something that can be done," Gutierrez said. "I don't want to discard it or support it at this point."
Gutierrez expressed concern about another provision of the bill which would require the Bush administration to monitor on a monthly basis certain commitments China has made to reduce piracy and counterfeiting of American products.
"We have to be careful that we don't turn this into a bureaucratic exercise, where we're just moving paper around and we're spending more time complying with bureaucracy than we are reducing intellectual property rights violations," he said.
"But we're looking at that and we're trying to work with (House Republicans) to see if that's something that could be helpful," Gutierrez said. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us