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Bush fast trade { August 2 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/02/international/02TRAD.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/02/international/02TRAD.html
August 2, 2002
Senate Grants Bush Authority on Trade Deals
By DAVID FIRESTONE
WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 — The Senate agreed today not to interfere in trade deals negotiated by the White House, giving final approval to an accord requested by two presidents over eight years. Bush administration officials said they would immediately use the long-sought authority to accelerate trade talks stalled for years by partisan differences.
In a last vote before leaving Washington's heat for an August recess, senators from both parties voted 64 to 34 to give President Bush the negotiating authority that members of Congress had denied to President Clinton for much of his tenure. Last week, a more divided House of Representatives agreed to the same bill, which now goes to the White House for the president's signature.
A majority of Democrats voted against the bill, and some senators expressed strong reservations about the effect that liberalized trade would have on the jobs of American workers. But after House and Senate negotiators agreed last week to include a package of subsidized health insurance and job-training benefits for workers who lose their jobs to foreign competition, 20 Democrats joined 43 Republicans and one independent to give the Bush administration what it wanted.
The trade promotion authority, formerly known as the fast-track process, means that Congress has agreed not to change any deal the administration makes with a country or trading bloc. The five-year agreement, however, does not give the executive branch quite the free hand that presidents had before the last fast-track law expired in 1994.
Under the bill passed today, Congress can still veto any deal — and many members said they hoped to do so if an agreement jeopardized American jobs — but the administration can negotiate without fear that the details will later be changed.
"This gets us off the sidelines, where we've been for years, and gives us the opportunity to go on offense," said Donald L. Evans, the secretary of commerce, exultant at one of the administration's most decisive victories. "If you don't have the authority to negotiate, it's awfully hard to deliver an agreement."
President Bush, calling the action a "historic moment," congratulated supporters of the bill in a conference call after the vote.
"What you all have done is you have made it much more likely somebody is going to be able to find work, some farmer is going to be to sell his product," he said.
But opponents said that while the bill might be good for exporters, it could be damaging to textile and other manufacturing employees who will be undercut by foreigners who work for lower wages. Several senators said they were not satisfied that foreign trading partners would not employ child labor or abide by environmental standards, and others said that American negotiators have allowed countries to impose unfair tariffs that keep American products out of their markets.
"Every pound of T-bone steak that goes into Japan has a tariff on it, a 38.5 percent tariff," said Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota, a major beef-producing state. "And this is after our negotiators reached agreement with them. Do our ranchers have a complaint? I think so, I believe so. Because the trade circumstances with respect to beef in Japan are not fair, and everyone knows it."
Robert B. Zoellick, the United States trade representative, said that the first trade agreements likely to be completed were with Chile and Singapore, possibly by the end of the year. The administration also hopes to have agreements with five Central American countries — Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala — by the end of Mr. Bush's term, he said.
By 2005, he said, negotiators hope to complete work on the 34-nation Free Trade Area of the Americas, a plan first put forward in 1994 to integrate most of the economies of North and South America into a single free-trade bloc. It is similar in concept to the NAFTA agreement with Mexico and Canada. President Bush also wants an agreement soon with Morocco, in hopes of supporting its economic and political reforms, Mr. Zoellick said.
Although the final bill dropped the Senate proposal allowing a Congressional veto over any weakening of laws prohibiting the dumping of foreign goods, it does require the administration to consult with Congress on such laws, and theoretically allows Congress to halt any deal under negotiation. But both sides said they believed the bill would actually result in a closer relationship between the White House and Congress on trade issues.
"Given the trust in this delegation of authority to the administration," said Max Baucus, a Democratic trade supporter from Montana, "Congress expects the administration to honor and respect that trust by working closely with members on these issues."
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