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Bush Administration aims to complete talks with Russia, others by the end of 2006

WASHINGTON, DC - 02/20/06 - The Bush Administration has said it wants to complete World Trade Organization (WTO) accession negotiations with Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Vietnam in 2006 and get congressional approval for those agreements as quickly as possible.

In testimony last week before a House of Representatives committee, US Trade Representative (USTR) Rob Portman said the US is "close" to an agreement with Ukraine and "I hope we're close" to crafting a pact with Russia.

Under US law, WTO agreements with those countries require approval by Congress to grant permanent Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) - or Normal Trade Relations - status.

MFN is the principle that all the benefits of trade provided to one country must be provided to all countries that receive MFN status.

"These can be tough votes," Portman told the Ways and Means Committee, recalling the 2000 votes on China's accession.

"I would love to have all four of these come before the Congress to move them forward even this year," he said. "That may be ambitious, but I think it's in our interest to get these countries into the rules-based WTO system."

Rep. Clay Shaw (R- Florida), chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, warned that continued piracy of copyrights and patents could jeopardize agreement with Russia, which is pressing to conclude negotiations before President Vladimir Putin hosts the annual Group of Eight (G8) leading industrialized countries' meeting in July.

"The Putin Administration has not used the necessary political capital to acknowledge the problem or to take the proper steps to shut down pirates. I hope that you and President Bush will remain tough with the Russians in ending the pirate and counterfeit practices that have plagued Russia," Shaw told the USTR.

"Unless Russia adopts domestic enforcement laws, dismantles organized crime and commits itself to the rule of law," he said, "I think consideration of permanent normal trade relationships in Congress will be highly controversial," he said.

Portman testified to the committee after the Administration released its 2006 trade agenda taking the opportunity to identify the agenda's priorities such as enforcing existing trade agreements, finishing the WTO trade negotiations, and advancing bilateral free-trade agreements (FTAs).

Negotiations for an FTA with South Korea announced earlier this month and expected to commence in May hold the biggest potential for increasing US exports among all pending FTAs, said Portman.

House members raised a number of issues, especially on Korean barriers to autos and agriculture, including rice.

Portman said that the Koreans understand that any FTA negotiation with the US has to achieve a comprehensive agreement, including agriculture.

"It's [agriculture is] going to have to be dealt with, including rice," he said.

Portman "hopes Congress will soon approve completed agreements with Oman and Peru" and that an FTA agreement with Panama is "very close."

The USTR has set the goal of completing FTA negotiations this year with Colombia, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates, while negotiations can be expected to start with Malaysia "sometime this year" and negotiations with Egypt are "possible," he said.

The Administration push for concluding WTO negotiations and wrapping up free trade agreements in 2006 "reflects the expiration in July 2007 of the president's Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), also known as "fast track," to negotiate trade agreements," said Portman.

Under TPA - which was allowed to lapse from 1994 to 2002 - Congress restricts itself only to approve or reject a negotiated trade agreement, within strict time limits and without amendments.

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Korea, US Free Trade Pact ''Possible'' by Early 2007

WASHINGTON, DC – 10/25/06 – A free trade pact between the US and South Korea could become a reality by early 2007, says chief US negotiator Wendy Cutler at the opening of this week’s fourth round of talks between the two countries; since the two sides launched FTA negotiations in February they have reported little progress even though they postponed consideration of the most politically sensitive issues, such as US access to the Korean rice market.