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CANADIANS SUPPORT NAFTA, NEWSPAPER POLL SAYS

Canadians overwhelmingly support Canada's participation in the North American free-trade agreement, though some supporters appear uncertain about the trade deal's benefits, according to a recent poll commissioned by the Toronto Globe & Mail. The poll, conducted by Toronto-based Ipsos-Reid, found that 70% of respondents said they support the NAFTA, though a bare majority of 51% said the deal has benefited Canada. Nineteen per cent said it has had no impact, while 25% said it has hurt the country. Support for the trade deal has actually climbed since January, 2001, when 64% of Canadians supported it and 40% said it had benefited the country. The poll suggests that Canadians are mostly content with the agreement and see closer integration in the North American economy as a positive trend for Canada. The Ipsos-Reid poll surveyed 1,006 Canadians from June 3 to June 5, and is considered accurate within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Regionally, British Columbians - who have been hardest hit by US trade action against softwood lumber - are the least supportive of the NAFTA. Fifty-six per cent of B.C. respondents support the deal, while 37% oppose it. And British Columbians are far less likely to believe the deal has benefited Canada. Only 37% of B.C. respondents said the deal has been positive for the country, compared to 62% of Albertans and 55% of Ontarians.

SENATE APPROVES ACTION ON MYANMAR FINANCES, TRADE

WASHINGTON, DC - The US Senate approved a bill freezing the assets in the US of Myanmar's military junta and banning the import of goods made in the country in response to the detention of opposition leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi. According to the Bloomberg News, the legislation, passed by 97 votes to 1, also expands a ban on visas for members of the military junta and their families. It also calls on the military to free all political prisoners and restore democracy in the country formerly known as Burma. Suu Kyi, the winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her campaign for democracy, was placed under what the military junta called protective detention'' after a clash May 30 between her supporters and those of the junta in the north of the country. The State Department said earlier this week the crackdown turned back'' progress toward democracy in Myanmar where the military has ruled since 1962. Myanmar remains under U.S. sanctions after the military nullified election results in 1990 that would have put Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy in power. The opposition leader has spent most of the past decade under house arrest.
 
EUROPE, US IN NEW TRADE ROW OVER "ZEROING"

BRUSSELS - The European Union is taking the US to task over the US accounting practice known as "zeroing," which the trade bloc says results in financial penalties for EU firms. Zeroing is a method of calculating penalties for dumping goods on a market at below cost-price making EU exporters unfairly liable, the European Commission has told the World Trade Organization in Geneva. The problem with US zeroing rules, the Commission says, is that they diverge from international practice. "The EU has already abandoned this practice and has several times asked the US to do likewise, in order to ensure a level playing field," said EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy. "Unfortunately, the US refuses to move on this issue, and regrettably we are left with no choice but to refer the matter to the WTO." Brussels wants the WTO to set up formal consultations under its dispute-settlement mechanism. According to the Commission, trade worth "several hundreds of millions of dollars" is involved. Zeroing mainly affects EU exports of steel, chemicals and pasta. The WTO has ruled against zeroing once before, in a complaint brought by India against the EU.

US, MOROCCO SHARE "COMMON TRADE GOALS"

RABAT - The US and Morocco have made "tremendous progress" in recently concluded trade negotiations, according to Assistant US Trade Representative Catherine Novelli, who said that negotiations leading to a Free Trade Agreement between the two countries should be finished by the end of the year. Novelli made her comments at a recent joint press conference in Rabat with and Moroccan Minister Delegate for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Taieb Fassi Fihri. Although Novelli said the provisions of the agreement are not yet complete, the US and Morocco "share common goals in moving forward with an agreement that supports the economic reforms that His Majesty [King Mohammed] and the government have begun and creates economic opportunities for Moroccans and for US citizens alike."

JAPAN URGED TO ADAPT A "MORE FLEXIBLE" ECONOMIC APPROACH

NEW YORK - US  Treasury Secretary John Snow called on Japan to adopt a "more flexible approach to reviving its economy, " which, as he noted, "has struggled for a decade." In a recent speech to the Japan Society in New York, Snow pointed to the US example in deregulating its transportation industry in the '70s and '80s, selling the overvalued assets of the savings and loans in the 1980s, as well as dealing more recently with problems stemming from the bursting of the stock market bubble of the '90s, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and corporate scandal. The world needs the US and Japanese economies to be "running on all cylinders," said Snow, and the US "will support our friend and ally's efforts to restore full growth" to its economy. Snow noted that Japan's economy remains the world's second largest, and the largest economy in Asia, despite the slowdown of recent years. "We all know the diagnosis for the slowdown - a distressed banking system with too many non-performing borrowers; persistent deflation; and a rigid and overly regulated economic structure that discourages risk-taking, competition, and innovation." Japan, he went on, "must find Japanese solutions, not through isolation, but through openness." Snow said changes were starting to take place in Japan, citing banking reforms, closer cooperation between the Bank of Japan and the Japanese government, strong calls for regulatory reform, and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's pledge to open Japan's economy.

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