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The Dawn Of A New Trade Day
by Liza Porteus
The joint declaration that President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed last week to reduce both countries' nuclear-arms stockpiles includes a strong commitment to boosting trade between the two countries.
"Success in our bilateral economic and trade relations demands that we move beyond the limitations of the past," the declaration states.
The Commerce Department expects to decide no later than June 14 whether Russia should be treated as a market economy under U.S. trade law. The two sides then will take "further practical steps to eliminate obstacles and barriers," including legislative action, to strengthen economic cooperation, the declaration states. The two nations will welcome the recommendations of the Russian-American Business Dialogue and are committed to working with the private sector "to realize the full potential of our economic interaction."
Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Donald Evans said his third trip to Russia has made him even more optimistic about the U.S. trade relationship with Russia and restated his commitment to furthering the countries' economic relations. Evans based his comments on a growing number of new U.S. company projects in Russia and an increase in U.S. exports to the nation.
"The benefits of open trade are universal, and the rewards of increased trade between our countries will be felt on every main street, factory floor and farm in the United States and Russia," Evans said.
Before the Bush-Putin meeting, the Senate last week adopted by voice vote language expressing support of Bush's efforts to strengthen the U.S.-Russian relationship.
Bush has asked Congress to extend normal trade relations to Russia, thus terminating the application of the Jackson-Vanik amendment of the 1974 Trade Act to the nation. The amendment requires countries to meet emigration standards before they can access U.S. government financial facilities and receive open trade status.
Meanwhile, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and New Zealand Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton met last week to discuss multilateral and bilateral trade issues. Sutton said Friday that discussions included the Bush administration's positive progress toward gaining trade-negotiating authority and the possibility of a free-trade deal between the two countries.
In other trade news, Pierre Pettigrew, the Canadian minister for international trade, said last week that trade has significantly contributed over the past decade to the growth of the Canadian economy, to job creation and to the emergence of new Canadian technology and innovations. A recent survey shows that 82 percent of Canadians believe trade has greatly helped their economy, 69 percent believe Canada should strive to find new markets, and a vast majority believe the government should help smaller businesses promote their products more.
Powell's Barbados Agenda Includes Trade, Anti-Terrorism
Secretary of State Colin Powell next week will meet with the Organization of American States in Bridgetown, Barbados, to discuss free trade, anti-terrorism efforts and other issues.
While there, Powell will sign the new Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism, which was negotiated as a direct result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The convention seeks to enhance hemispheric security by improving regional cooperation in the fight against terrorism, denying safe haven to terrorists, and facilitating the exchange of information, technical assistance and training in complex areas. Those areas include the prevention and eradication of the financing of terrorism, the improvement of border and customs controls, and the prevention, investigation and prosecution of terrorist acts.
In other news, members of the U.S.-India Defense Policy Group (DPG) met last week in Washington. Indian Defense Secretary Yogendra Narain led the Indian delegation, and officials discussed how to combat terrorism. The United States and India have demonstrated progress in military cooperation, including research and development of technologies for combating terrorism, the two sides noted.
The Future Of European, U.S. Trade
Stuart Eizenstat, a co-chairman of the European-American Business Council (EABC), recently predicted that a real chance exists for European Union trade sanctions on U.S. goods as a result of the dispute over U.S.-imposed steel tariffs. The dispute could result in such sanctions, Eizenstat said, because there is political pressure in Europe to retaliate, reports Tax Notes Today.
But Eizenstat and John Weekes, a former Canadian ambassador to the World Trade Organization, said retaliation over a U.S. tax break for overseas corporations is not likely, mainly because of little pressure from EU companies to retaliate.
Eizenstat, a former U.S. deputy Treasury secretary, said the EABC is recommending changes to several EU tax policies to ensure that they do not inhibit trade. The proposed changes would affect e-commerce tax rules, cross-border tax obstacles to trade between EU member states and taxes on stock options, among others.
Korea Targets Firms In Anti-Spam Campaign
Korea's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has released a list of companies that it says have not complied with anti-spam regulations -- the latest action in a series aimed at reducing spam.
The crackdown came after FTC unveiled its anti-spam policy April 23. The Korean government is eager to block companies from sending commercial e-mails to local and foreign Internet users unless recipients explicitly agree to such mass mailing.
The 48 companies and groups included on the spammers' list include Samsung Electronics, Korea.com and Kookmin Bank. Many of the companies are major players in businesses involving the Internet, electronics, credit cards and distribution.
The companies failed to specify their corporate and contact information in their commercial e-mails to consumers. When new e-commerce laws take effect in Korea in July, companies failing to specify the names of their CEOs, their own e-mail addresses and remote-sales registration numbers will be strictly punished, the FTC said.
Separately, the Korean FTC asked police to investigate six companies that have sold e-mail lists for spam mailings and that operated pornographic Web sites.
Australian Group Wins Bid To Create Tech Center
The National Information and Communication Technology Australia (NICTA) has been chosen to establish and operate the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Center of Excellence in Australia.
The $129.5 million complex is the cornerstone of a $3 billion plan announced in January 2001. A consortium of six leading organizations and two key sponsors from universities, the private sector and state governments developed the NICTA proposal.
The ICT center aims to be a world-class institute that will raise the standard of research and post-graduate training in Australia. NICTA plans to transform Australia's ICT sector and strengthen the competitiveness of sectors such as financial services, education, entertainment and health.
In other news from Australia, the National Office of the Information Economy has released a paper on the potential for a national authentication technology framework, including trends in authentication technologies such as public-key infrastructure and biometrics.
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