STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bush Sends Vietnam Trade Pact to Congress by Doug Palmer Friday, June 08, 2001 7:10 p.m. EDT http://news.lycos.com/news/story.asp?section=Politics&storyId=182043 E-mail or Print this story - - - - - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush on Friday sent Congress a historic agreement to normalize trade relations with former foe Vietnam, linking the deal to broader efforts to promote free trade and open markets globally. "The history of the previous century teaches us that trade is a powerful tool for improving and reforming economies and opening up entire societies," Bush said in statement. "I urge Congress to approve this agreement. Under the pact signed in July 2000 in Hanoi, the United States agreed to normalize trade relations in exchange for the communist-run country opening its market to increased U.S. goods, services and investment. Congressional approval, which is widely expected, would remove one of the last political vestiges of a bitter war that ended 2-1/2 decades ago with the defeat of U.S. and South Vietnamese forces and the establishment of the Socialist Vietnam is one of just a few countries that does not have "normal trade relations" with the United States. As a result, U.S. tariffs on products from the country average 40 percent -- more than 10 times the level for most other nations. A spokeswoman for Vietnam Ambassador Le Van Bang said he welcomed the action and "would like the trade agreement to be quickly approved in the U.S. Congress." Even with current steep U.S. duties, two-way trade with Vietnam has risen from $224 million in 1994 -- when former President Bill Clinton lifted the U.S. economic embargo -- to nearly $1.2 billion last year. Two-thirds of the latest tally represents Vietnamese sales to the United States. The bilateral trade pact commits Vietnam to an ongoing process of economic reform and market opening in exchange for the United States' extending normal trade relations on an annual basis, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said. It also brings a reconciliation process begun nearly 10 years ago between the two countries closer to completion. U.S. business groups welcomed the move. Virginia Foote, head of the U.S.-Vietnam Trade Council, praised the agreement as "the most important step that has taken place since the end of the war. It provides a framework for building a strong and secure commercial relationship between our two countries." DISSIDENT REMAINS AN ISSUE Bush endorsed the agreement negotiated by the Clinton administration despite Vietnam's recent arrest of prominent Buddhist dissident monk Thich Quang Do. The United States has called for Do's release and Bush said he would continue "to press for improvements in Vietnam's overall record on human rights and religious freedom." Earlier this year, the Bush administration tried to link the Vietnam pact to a more controversial bill to give the White House the authority to negotiate a proposed free trade zone covering North and South America and new multilateral agreements under the World Trade Organization. While the White House has shed the idea of an omnibus trade bill, Bush still hoped to tie the Vietnam pact to his overall trade agenda. Approval would provide a "solid bipartisan foundation for action on other trade issues," he said. The Vietnam agreement enjoys the support of leaders of the Senate Finance Committee and the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee. Under rules of the 1974 trade act, which has barred normal trade relations with Vietnam, those panels will have 45 days to act on the agreement before sending it the full House and Senate for a vote. The pact also has strong support among Vietnam War veterans in Congress, including Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, and Sen. John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat. With the agreement's arrival in Congress, "we're one step closer to winning one of the final battles to end the war in Vietnam," Kerry said. Copyright � 2001 Reuters Limited. Have a comment on this article? Send it. ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
