Info for all of you....Stefanie Rixecker ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date sent: 24 Sep 1994 13:52:12 +1000 From: Andrew Dragun <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Trade Week 9-22-94 (fwd) To: Resource & Environmental Economics List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 23 Sep 1994 13:49:06 -0500 (CDT) From: IATP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Trade Week 9-22-94 Trade Week in Review and Resources Wednesday, September 21, 1994 Volume 3, Number 38 ____________________________________________________ Headlines: -U.S. to Submit GATT Text to Congress Monday -EU Ridiculed Over Textile Rules Compliance -U.S. Set to Impose Super 301 Against Japan -Perot Warns of "October Surprise" -Quad Ministers Secretly Discuss WTO Head RESOURCES ____________________________________________________ RESOURCES ____________________________________________________ U.S. to Submit GATT Text to Congress Monday U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor said the Clinton administration will submit a GATT implementing bill to Congress Monday, September 26. Under fast-track rules governing trade agreements, both House and Senate members will have 90 legislative days to vote "yes" or "no" on the GATT text. Congressional negotiators reportedly made significant progress over the weekend toward resolving contentious implementing issues, like recovering $12 billion in lost tariff revenues through accounting "gimmicks." "We're very close right now. It's just down to a few significant issues," said Representative Robert T. Matsui (D- California), chairperson of the House Ways and Means Committee. But he added, "We're a couple of billion dollars off." That couple of billion dollars could make or break GATT implementation according to CONGRESS DAILY. A bipartisan coalition of farm state lawmakers are opposing a new White House plan to use $1 billion worth of spending cuts in agriculture subsidies to help pay for the GATT pact. The House Agriculture Committee already had approved plans for reallocating all of the required agriculture subsidy cuts to export promotion programs. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairperson Patrick Leahy (D- Vermont) delivered 64 pages worth of amendments to the White House last week which detail the reallocation of subsidy spending cuts. Leahy has the jurisdiction to delay a vote on the GATT accord until next year. Sources: Martin Crutsinger, "World Trade," AP, September 19, 1994; David Lawsky, "Taxmen Hash Out U.S. Funding for Trade Agreement," REUTER, September 18, 1994; John Maggs, "Farm Amendments Sow New Hurdles for Trade Accord," JOURNAL OF COMMERCE, September 19, 1994; "Farm State Senators Press White House on Subsidy Plan," CONGRESS DAILY, September 15, 1994. ____________________________________________________ EU Ridiculed Over Textile Rules Compliance The European Union has been criticized for taking only token steps to fulfill its GATT Uruguay Round obligations for textile and clothing trade. GATT members must subject at least 16 percent of their textiles and clothing imports to Uruguay Round rules over the next three years -- phase one in the planned dismantling of the 20-year old Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA). The European Union plans to carry out this commitment by applying GATT rules to a list of products which are mostly exempt from MFA quotas, such as hats, umbrellas, car seat belts and parachutes. Mass- market cotton products, like garments which are produced in developing countries, will be excluded. "The Commission is abiding with the letter but not the clear intention of the GATT agreement," said Harriet Lamb of the London-based World Development Movement. "It is a travesty of a phase out." The WDM estimates that the EU phaseout plan will affect only 0.1 percent of Third World products. Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark are pressing for a more liberal EU approach to the MFA phaseout, but are opposed by many southern EU members. The United States is expected to adopt a phase-out approach similar to the EU plan. Sources: Guy de Jonquieres, "EU Action on Textiles Pact a 'Travesty'," FINANCIAL TIMES, September 17, 1994; "EU Textile Tariff Plan Hits Third World Producers," REUTER, September 15,1994. ____________________________________________________ U.S. Set to Impose Super 301 Against Japan The United States would not only violate GATT rules by imposing trade sanctions against Japan under the Super 301 law, but could trigger "substantial damage to the world trade system," according to the Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA). "Invoking Super 301 procedures and any subsequent unilateral trade retaliation against Japan with respect to the automotive sector would ... repudiate the new dispute resolution framework that the United States fought hard to obtain as part of the Uruguay Round Agreement before it has even had an opportunity to be implemented, and invite wholesale condemnation of major U.S. trading partners," wrote JAMA in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor. The United States has threatened to impose Super 301 trade sanctions against Japan's auto sector by September 30 unless market reforms are established for all sectors of U.S.-Japan trade. The two countries have been conducting framework talks for months to establish mutually beneficial reforms. Sources: "U.S. Super 301 Action Against Japan's Automotive Industry Would Violate the GATT, Undermine World Trade and Jeopardize Successful Industry Programs," PR NEWSWIRE, September 19, 1994; "As Deadline Looms, Japanese Get Tough in Trade Talks With the U.S.," MINNEAPOLIS STAR & TRIBUNE, September 14, 1994. ____________________________________________________ Perot Warns of "October Surprise" Former U.S. Presidential Candidate Ross Perot told 1,200 supporters at a political rally in Georgia last week that GATT could become an "October surprise" for all American citizens. While warning of an October surprise invasion of Haiti (prior to Monday's resolution), he called GATT "the October surprise for you. It makes NAFTA look dim, insignificant." Meanwhile, consumer activist Ralph Nader, Teamsters union President Ron Carey and environmental leaders called Monday on Congress to reject the GATT accord. "Under this agreement, American workers will lose jobs, while workers in other countries will be exploited at wages of only a few dollars a day," Carey told a news conference. Sources: Ben Smith III, "Perot Backers, Curious Onlookers Hear Mix of Old and New Themes," ATLANTA JOURNAL AND CONSTITUTION, September 14, 1994; "Nader, Teamsters Knock GATT," UPI, September 19, 1994. ____________________________________________________ Quad Ministers Secretly Discuss WTO Head Trade Ministers from the "Quad Group" -- the United States, Japan, Canada and the European Union -- deliberated in private this month over candidates to head the World Trade Organization. According to confidential minutes of the closed-door Quad sessions made available by Japan's KYODO NEWS SERVICE, the trade ministers came up with no definite conclusion. Each minister reportedly favored candidates from their own region. Japan currently supports South Korea's Commerce and Natural Resources Minister Kim Chul Su; the United States supports Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari; the European Union backs Italian Foreign Trade Minister Renato Ruggiero; while Canada has not yet decided. The GATT working party responsible for outlining how the WTO will succeed GATT has set mid-November as the deadline for completion of its work. The WTO is slated to replace GATT January 1, 1995. Sources: Antonio Kamiya, Hayato Ishii, "Quad Ministers Haggle Over Candidates to Head WTO," JAPAN ECONOMIC NEWS, September 14, 1994; "Working Party on WTO-GATT Succession Due to Complete Work by Mid-November," BUREAU OF NATIONAL AFFAIRS, September 15, 1994. ____________________________________________________ RESOURCES: For copies of the following, please contact the authors or organizations listed: "The Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture: An Evaluation," THE INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL TRADE RESEARCH CONSORTIUM, July 1994. 91 pages. Laura Bipes, Administrative Director, International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium, 231 Classroom Office Building, 1994 Buford Avenue, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108-6040. (612) 625-1757. Free. Includes chapter analyses of how the Uruguay Round of GATT will affect agriculture in the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea and Latin America. "Embracing the Future . . . Avoiding the Challenge of World Poverty: OxfamUs response to the World BankUs TvisionU for the Bretton Woods system," OXFAM, July 29, 1994. 23 pages. Oxfam, 274 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7DZ, United Kingdom. (44-71) 865-311-311. Fax: (44-71) 865-312-417. "Dark Victory: The United States, Structural Adjustment and Global Poverty," Walden Bello et al. FOOD FIRST/PLUTO PRESS, March1994. 148 pages. Institute for Food and Development Policy, 398 60th Street, Oakland, CA 94618. (510) 654-4400. Fax: (5l0) 654-4551. $12.95. "50 Years Is Enought: The Case Against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund,"ed. Kevin Danaher, SOUTH END PRESS, August 1994. 222 pages. South End Press, 116 Saint Botophy Stree, Boston, MA 02115. (617) 266-0629. $14/ paper. $30/cloth. Includes cases studies of Structural Adjustment Programs, analyses of World Bank and IMF internal operations and proposals for reform. "Full House: Reassessing the EarthUs Population Carrying Capacity," Lester R. Brown and Hal Kane, WORLDWATCH ENVIRONMENTAL ALERT SERIES, August 1994. 261 pages. W.W. Norton & Co., 500 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10110. (212) 354-5000. $8.95. ____________________________________________________ The following email services are offered by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy: "trade.library" - a storehouse of trade related documents, including analyses, reports, fact sheets, White House transcripts ... etc. "trade.strategy" - an open discussion of trade issues and events "eai.news" - a regular bulletin summarizing the latest news in Latin American integration and development "susag.news" - a regular news bulletin pertaining to sustainable agriculture "susag.library" - longer documents, studies and analyses on sustainable agriculture "susag.calendar" - a calendar of events "env.biotech" - a news bulletin about biotechnology If you are on EcoNet/PeaceNet, you may access these services by going to the "conferences" section. If you are on another system and would like to be added to the e-mailing list for these services, send email to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" with a note requesting to which lists you'd like to be added. Trade Week in Review is produced by: Gigi DiGiacomo Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) 1313 5th Street, SE, Suite 303 Minneapolis, MN 55414-1546 USA tel: (612) 379-5980 fax: (612) 379-5982 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ____________________________________________________
