*EPF315 02/06/2002
Democrats Frustrated at WTO Negotiations on U.S. Antidumping Law
(USTR Zoellick defends his position at Senate hearing) (540)

By Bruce Odessey
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee has reiterated his unhappiness that the Bush administration allowed World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations to consider U.S. antidumping and other trade remedy laws.

At a February 6 committee hearing, the chairman, Senator Max Baucus of Montana, said such laws do not impose barriers to free trade but rather promote free trade by attacking unfair practices.

"I understand that this is a very preliminary stage of negotiations and that no agreement is immediately forthcoming. But these laws should not be on the agenda at all," he said. "I do not accept the position that it was impossible to launch a round without negotiating on trade laws."

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick responded in his testimony that he did the best he could at the November meeting in Doha, Qatar, where WTO ministers launched the negotiating round, given U.S. isolation on the issue.

Zoellick said he expected he could line up support in the negotiations among other countries that use antidumping measures to fend off attempts at weakening U.S. laws.

He argued also that the administration would take an offensive position in the negotiations to press other countries to bring their antidumping law procedures up to the U.S. level of transparency and fairness.

Zoellick's arguments failed to satisfy Senator John Rockefeller, a Democrat from steel-producing West Virginia, as the two engaged in a tense exchange.

Rockefeller charged that Zoellick had pledged to him personally before the Doha meeting to reject any WTO negotiations on antidumping laws, laws used vigorously by the ailing U.S. steel industry. Now he questioned whether he could trust Zoellick.

"I have done absolutely nothing to lead to distrust!" Zoellick shot back.

Rockefeller argued that other countries would press the United States to weaken its trade laws as a tradeoff for making concessions in agriculture and other sectors.

"I'm trying to protect steel," Rockefeller said. "That's where our state rises or falls."

Zoellick did not state categorically that he would reject any WTO agreement that weakened U.S. trade laws in any way. He said he would have to consider whether any such proposed changes would help or hurt the U.S. economy.

The trade representative reiterated his view that the Senate should quickly pass its version of trade promotion authority (TPA) legislation, otherwise known as fast track. The House of Representatives passed its bill 215-214 in December; the Senate Finance Committee approved its version 18-3 a few days later.

He also appealed for passage by Congress of legislation reauthorizing two programs that set preferential tariffs for many imports from developing countries -- the Generalized System of Preferences and the Andean Trade Preference Act; both of them expired in 2001.

Chairman Baucus said he expected to work on combining TPA legislation with a number of other trade-related bills for consideration by the full Senate but warned that no such package would pass without administration support for more robust trade adjustment assistance, training programs for workers who lose their jobs as a result of imports.

"To get fast track we need meaningful trade adjustment assistance," Baucus said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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