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Free Trade Fight Heats Up In Washington
The policy fight over negotiating free-trade agreements and the treatment of labor and environmental standards is picking up steam in Washington.
President Bush asked Congress on Tuesday night for trade-promotion (fast-track) negotiating authority, and quickly. But Senate Finance Committee ranking member Max Baucus, D-Mont., told a committee hearing on trade earlier Tuesday that for presidential fast-track authority to pass in Congress, it should first pass the U.S.-Jordan free-trade agreement (FTA) negotiated by the Clinton administration. The agreement with the small economy is significant because it contains labor and environmental provisions in the text.
"Let me be absolutely clear on this point," Baucus said. "There is no quicker and surer way to poison the well of compromise on trade than to try to scuttle the U.S.-Jordan FTA."
He indicated that Democrats are flexible on the ways to include labor and environment issues in agreements, citing the Canada-Chile free-trade agreement, which does not tie such standards to trade sanctions.
U.S. Trade Representative Bob Zoellick met with Canadian Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew for the first time Monday and hashed through a series of bilateral trade fights. While high-tech issues are not among the high-profile disputes of the two countries with the largest trading relationship in the history of the world, the two ministers also discussed global trade issues.
Zoellick told Pettigrew of his intentions on fast-track authority, which Pettigrew said he supports, and they talked at length about the April Free Trade Area of the Americas summit in Quebec City. The two also discussed positions on a new round of talks at the World Trade Organization (WTO).
On the WTO, Pettigrew said Canada essentially is trying to broker a deal between the United States and the European Union on the size of the agenda for the new round, which many see as being launched at the WTO ministerial next autumn in Qatar.
"I have been telling my friend, [European Trade Minister] Pascal Lamy ... that Europeans should be ready to settle for a narrower agenda than the one they have been promoting," Pettigrew told reporters Tuesday. "I have said to Ambassador Zoellick this morning that I hope Americans could buy into a larger agenda than the one that they have committed to so far. So Canada is flexible on that."
The subject will be front and center at the meeting of the so-called Quad — the United States, Canada, the European Union and Japan — next week in Washington, DC. Pettigrew, who chaired the working group on implementation of agreements at the 1999 WTO ministerial in Seattle, noted that it would take more than agreement by the Quad to move forward on talks at the WTO. He said there also needs to be more inclusion of developing countries — many of which are struggling to implement past agreements, let alone negotiating new ones.
To that end, newly-appointed Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told a conference in Paris that the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) should not be amended in a new round of talks despite requests from developing countries to weaken the agreement. How to handle the countries that have yet to implement TRIPs commitments due since Jan. 1, 2000, continues to vex U.S. government lawyers.
There Is An Online Alternative
This week is Alternative Dispute Resolution Cyberweek, hosted by the Center for Information Technology and Dispute Resolution. The American Bar Association (ABA) announced that it is participating in an online discussion concerning standards for online dispute resolution and other e-commerce issues.
Meanwhile, suggestions by the ABA to form a new international body to deal with Internet and e-commerce issues may not be the best plan of action, said Orde Kittrie of the State Department international policy division. Pointing to efforts by the Hague Conference on Private International Law and other international bodies, Kittrie said, "I'm not sure a new international bureaucracy is the way to go." Kittrie, who spoke Friday at an e-commerce forum, noted that he was not speaking on behalf of the agency.
He also noted that the social and economic benefits of a flourishing Internet could help pull the developing world out of poverty, but many obstacles must be overcome before that happens. Legal reform to enable the development of e-commerce and digital opportunities must be undertaken, as well as the removal of regulatory and logistical barriers, Kittrie said. High Internet access fees, the lack of reliable electronic payment, unreliable delivery methods and customs glitches also pose problems for entrepreneurs, he said.
In another ADR development, the CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution launched an international ADR page on its Web site.
No Excuses This Year
Ireland has set the model (now being followed by the District of Columbia) for online tax collection. Ireland's Revenue Online Service was developed by consulting group Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting). It appears to be the first government in the world to offer individuals and businesses 24-hour access to tax services.
You've Got Debt
The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan on Tuesday urged the Japanese government to revise its E-Notification law to include the Money Lending Business Law, which it says would give consumers there the choice of receiving required notices about loans electronically. The November E-Notification Law cut down on paper document requirements to encourage e-commerce growth but left out the money-lending law that governs the consumer lending industry, the Chamber said. Banks are able to provide their notices electronically, while consumer lenders are still paperbound.
The Internet Is All Of Ours
The Markle Foundation has announced it will provide $432,000 toward an independent, international effort to study the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the Los Angeles-based Internet oversight body. ICANN has attracted a lot of attention, much of it negative, in recent months as complaints about its practices have come out.
Zoe Baird, president of the Markle Foundation, said the study would examine ICANN's recent elections in order to bring about "greater transparency and stronger representation of the public interest at ICANN and for Internet governance generally."
Behind the Cyber Curtain?
In its spring session, the Russian Parliament is preparing to consider as many as 15 bills aimed at regulating the Internet, according to InternetNews. The package likely will contain provisions banning junk e-mail, protecting intellectual property, preventing copyright infringement, securing online payments and addressing the legitimacy of digital signatures.
E-Commerce and E-Government Do Mix
The United Kingdom and Canada have shown the world their commitment to e-commerce and e-government by signing a joint statement of cooperation.
They agreed last week to harmonize their efforts to build consumer confidence in e-commerce, providing consumers and businesses with security in online transactions. They also will share information on best practices in implementing e-government, and will cooperate in international forums.
Vodafone Acquires AT&T Stake
Wireless operator Vodafone Group announced Tuesday it had conditionally agreed to acquire AT&T's 10 percent economic interest in Japan Telecom for $1.35 billion. Japan Telecom is one of Japan's leading telecommunications companies and parent of the fast growing mobile network, J-Phone Communications.
The transaction is dependent on AT&T's ability to deliver the shares at the end of April 2001, when closing is expected to take place. At that time, Vodafone will hold 25 percent of Japan Telecom's equity.
- by William New
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