From kmander@igc.apc.orgSat Apr 8 11:37:16 1995 Date: 19 Oct 94 11:27 PDT From: Kai Mander To: "Recipients of conference trade.news" Newsgroups: trade.news Subject: Trade Week 10-19-94 Trade Week in Review and Resources Wednesday, October 19, 1994 Volume 3, Number 42 _________________________________________________ HEADLINES: All Sides Agree: U.S. Will Lose Low-Wage Jobs GATT Will Examine Implementing Legislation Citizens Groups File Lawsuits Against USTR Perot Attacks GATT, Seeks Vote Delay Singapore to Ratify GATT APEC Summit May Lead to Free Trade Zone Resources _________________________________________________ GATT NEWS SUMMARY _________________________________________________ All Sides Agree: U.S. Will Lose Low-Wage Jobs In testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee last week, GATT opponents and supporters agreed that the trade pact would result in the loss of low-skill, low-wage jobs in the United States. "By and large, job losses are likely to occur disproportionately among the lower-skilled and lower-paid," said Abraham Katz, representing a coalition of businesses seeking passage of the Uruguay Round. Katz said workers who lose their jobs could be retrained for higher- paying jobs and that rejecting the Uruguay Round could plunge the world into another depression. Thomas Donahue, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO which opposes GATT, said the trade pact would encourage other countries to suppress workers' wages and rights in order to compete with the U.S. By approving the Uruguay Round, Donahue said, the U.S. would be turning "its back on its most vulnerable citizens in order to promote the interest of the privileged few." Senator Ernest Hollings (D-South Carolina), who chairs the committee, said he did not understand the rush to pass the pact this year since the U.S. has until July of next year to ratify it. Hollings said the pact would result in the loss of high-skilled and low-skilled U.S. jobs. "There's a sort of smug feeling that we're going to be all high-skill here and the rest of the productive world is going to be low-skill," he said. Sources: Dave Skidmore, "GATT Would Hurt Low-Skilled U.S. Workers, Senators Told," AP, October 14, 1994; "Katz: GATT Rejection May Result in Another Depression," CONGRESSDAILY, October 14, 1994; Nita Lelyveld, "In Nearly Empty Congress, Debate Continues on GATT," AP, October 13, 1994; _________________________________________________ GATT Will Examine Implementing Legislation Early next year, GATT will begin examining the implementing legislation enacted by participating countries to ratify the Uruguay Round. According to a senior GATT official, the world trade body will look at the bills of each country to ensure they comply with provisions outlined in the Uruguay Round. "We'll want to see whether countries have stretched the limits of the imagination in drafting their implementing legislation," said Warren Lavorel, deputy director general of GATT. Lavorel said he hoped the examination would "foreordain the types of disputes (among countries) that could arise later." The U.S. implementing legislation has been the most controversial because its textiles and agriculture provisions are, in some cases, inconsistent with the final Uruguay Round text. Source: "GATT Uruguay Round Enabling Legislation Will Be Studied by GATT Early Next Year," BNA, October 17, 1994. _________________________________________________ Citizens Groups File Lawsuits Against USTR Two new lawsuits contend that the secrecy of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is in violation of federal law. The first suit, submitted by Public Citizen and the Center for Auto Safety, claims that USTR is violating the Freedom of Information Act by not releasing the GATT panel submissions of other nations. The second suit, filed by Public Citizen and the Sierra Club, seeks to reverse a USTR order that has closed all trade advisory committee meetings to the public. "We are suing to compel the U.S. Trade Representative's Office to put their words about openness into action," said Joan Claybrook, President of Public Citizen. "The USTR needs to understand that the secrecy perpetuated by their office not only violates our democratic principles, it also violates federal law. Congress should take a hard look at the closed and secretive nature of the USTR before considering the GATT Uruguay Round, which will make this bad system even worse," said Claybrook. Source: "Citizens Groups' Suits Claim USTR Secretly Violates Federal Law," PUBLIC CITIZEN NEWS RELEASE, October 17, 1994. _________________________________________________ Perot Attacks GATT, Seeks Vote Delay Former presidential candidate Ross Perot warned Americans that ratification of the Uruguay Round would hurt workers and destroy the U.S. tax base. "NAFTA pits well-paid American workers against low-paid Mexican workers," Perot said in his weekly radio broadcast. "GATT and the World Trade Organization will pit our well-paid workers against those of China, India, Pakistan and other places that make Mexican labor seem expensive." Perot told listeners that a lame-duck vote was not the appropriate place to decide GATT's future. "You make it clear to every member of the House and every member of the Senate that you want that debate delayed until next year. And if they won't do it, you won't vote for them." Source: "Perot Warns of GATT's Economic Consequences," REUTER, October 16, 1994. _________________________________________________ Singapore to Ratify GATT Singapore hopes to become the 29th country to ratify the Uruguay Round of GATT this week. "The paperwork is ready. We should be able to submit our documents to the GATT Secretariat for ratification within the next few days," said a Trade and Industry Ministry official. Hong Kong and Antigua and Barbuda officially ratified the Uruguay Round earlier this month, leaving 96 nations, including the United States, European Union and Japan that still must ratify the pact. Japanese officials said last week that the U.S. delay in ratifying GATT would not affect their plans to approve it this year. The ASAHI SHIMBUN newspaper indicates Japan is considering donating much of the rice that it is required to import under GATT as aid to developing countries. Sources: Irene Ngoo, "S'pore to Ratify World Trade Pact Next Week," STRAITS TIMES, October 15, 1994; "Japan to Ratify GATT Agreement by Yr-End: Okamatsu," October 14, 1994; "Japan May Give Imported Rice as Aid," UPI, October 15, 1994. _________________________________________________ APEC Summit May Lead to Free Trade Zone Next month's summit meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) may lead to an 18-nation agreement to dismantle all trade barriers though the Asia Pacific region. Indonesian President Suharto, the APEC Chair, said he hoped the November 14 summit in Bagor, Indonesia, would lead to a fundamental agreement on trade liberalization. Malaysia, which has been the most outspoken critic of APEC, warning that the U.S. could become too influential, is now considered unlikely to snub Suharto and reject a free trade deal. "We now think it's likely that you'll get a deal for free trade in the region with an end date no further out than 2020," said a senior Australian government official. The grouping, which accounts for 40 percent of world trade and up to half of the world's total production, includes Australia, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. Chile will join in November. Sources: "APEC Leaders Poised to Back Regional Free-Trade Pact," AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, October 14, 1994; Bernard Hickey, "APEC Summit Seen Adopting Regional Free-Trade Plan," REUTER, October 14, 1994. _________________________________________________ RESOURCES _________________________________________________ For copies of the following, please contact the authors or organizations listed: "Congressional Voting Index: How the 103rd Congress Voted on Consumer Issues, 1993-1994," PUBLIC CITIZEN, October 1994. Public Citizen Publications, Dept. 1094, 2000 P Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036. (202) 833-3000. $5. Monitors votes on consumer issues, including health care reform, the North American Free Trade Agreement, renewable energy and campaign finance reform. "Beating Back Predatory Trade," Alan Tonelson, FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Vol. 73, No. 4, July/August 1994. 12 pages. Readers Services, 58 East 68th Street, New York, NY 10021. Fax: (212) 861-2759. $7.95/issue. $38/year. Reprints of articles are available. "Contrary to widespread beliefs, relief from predatory foreign trade practices has played a major role in revitalizing key American industries in recent years." "Green Protectionism -- Differentiating Environmental Protection >From Trade Protectionism," Charles Arden-Clarke, WORLD WIDE FUND FOR NATURE, February 1994. 8 pages. WWF International, Avenue du Mont Blanc, CH-1196, Gland, Switzerland. (41-22) 364- 9111. Fax: (41-22) 364-5829. "A Proposal to Create a Social-Environmental Impact Statement for Major Multinational Corporations," David Sarokin, THE PUBLIC DATA PROJECT, 1994. 13 pages. The Public Data Project, 3734 Appleton St. NW, Washington, DC 20016. (202) 363-5856. Fax: (202) 260-1764. $5. The author invites comments on the proposal. They will be used in a revision of it. _________________________________________________ For more information about the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, send email to iatp-info@igc.apc.org. Trade Week in Review is produced by: Kai Mander 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: kmander@igc.apc.org _________________________________________________