-Caveat Lector- Subj: Trade Talks Expected To Succeed Date: 8/13/99 1:56:04 AM Central Daylight Time From: AOL News BCC: Ahab42 Trade Talks Expected To Succeed .c The Associated Press By MARTIN CRUTSINGER WASHINGTON (AP) - Despite some intense bickering now, the Clinton administration says the 134-nation World Trade Organization will be able to arrive at a common negotiating agenda in time to launch a new round of global trade talks in December. But some trade analysts are not so certain, given the recent performance of the Geneva-based trade group, which was embroiled for months in a nasty fight over who would lead the organization. That dispute was finally resolved with an awkward job sharing arrangement in which former New Zealand Premier Mike Moore, the U.S.-preferred candidate, will hold the WTO's top job for three years and then be succeeded by Thailand Vice Prime Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi, who was backed by Japan and other Asian nations. Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Susan Esserman, who is in charge of the administration's preparations for the upcoming round of trade negotiations, to begin in Seattle, said the leadership fight ``will have no impact'' on the Seattle talks. ``There is a desire to move ahead and an enthusiasm in moving forward.'' But Esserman conceded that serious differences remain to be resolved among the United States, Europe, Japan and developing nations over negotiating goals for the new round of talks. The United States is pushing for a limited agenda focusing on tariff cuts on manufactured goods, removal of a variety of agricultural trade barriers and greater opening of competition in service industries such as telecommunications. Europe, by contrast, wants far more measures to be considered in the talks. U.S. officials have complained that is because they are seeking to shield European farmers from further trade liberalization. Many developing countries are complaining that even the more limited U.S. agenda is too large. They are still straining to meet the requirements of the last global trade talks, known as the Uruguay Round, which were begun in that country in 1986 and dragged on until 1993. While Esserman told reporters Thursday that all these disputes will be resolved in time for a successful launch of the talks in Seattle in early December, some private trade analysts were not as optimistic. ``There is deep disagreement between the United States, the European Union, Japan and the developing nations over what ought to be included in the next round,'' said Gary Hufbauer, a trade expert at the Institute of International Economics, a Washington think tank. ``I don't see a smooth road ahead at all.'' Hufbauer said there was growing foreign unhappiness with the administration's objections to including U.S. trade barriers in the upcoming talks, for fear of upsetting such American industries as steel and textiles. ``The administration, in an effort to pre-empt U.S. opponents, has been taking things off the table that other countries want,'' Hufbauer said. Esserman said the administration would continue to object to any effort to include anti-dumping regulations as part of the upcoming discussions. The administration has used these regulations, which allow higher tariffs for U.S. industries threatened by imports, as the primary mechanism to provide relief for U.S. steelmakers in the wake of the Asian currency crisis. Esserman said consensus was forming around certain U.S. positions, including the administration's insistence that the next talks should be concluded in just three years. Two areas of negotiations - agriculture and services - are part of the so-called built-in agenda, meaning that countries agreed as part of the Uruguay package to reopen talks in those areas. Esserman also noted that a meeting of trade ministers from Pacific Rim countries earlier this year, the group, known as the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, agreed to include further tariff cuts on manufactured goods as a negotiating goal, starting with accelerated cuts in eight specific sectors. More progress could come in outlining the goals for the talks when President Clinton meets with other APEC leaders in New Zealand in September. Clinton also is expected to have discussions with Chinese President Jiang Zemin while at APEC. Esserman refused to speculate on whether the two leaders would be able to strike a final market-opening trade agreement that would clear the way for China's membership in the WTO. AP-NY-08-13-99 0255EDT Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. 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