Clinton Rebuked Over Trade Talks
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Members of Congress sharply criticized the Clinton
administration's handling of global trade negotiations that collapsed last year amid
violent protests in Seattle. One Democratic senator contended that U.S. trade
policy is currently in ``crisis.''
U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky and Treasury Secretary Lawrence
Summers faced tough questioning Tuesday from lawmakers on two separate
Congressional committees demanding to know what approach the administration
was taking to rescue efforts to launch a new round of trade negotiations. The talks
were designed to open markets for American farmers and manufacturers.
An effort by the World Trade Organization to start such talks failed in early
December when 135 nations attending the Seattle conference could not agree on a
negotiating agenda. The conference was marked by street protests against
globalization which turned violent, forcing authorities to declare a state of
emergency and call out the National Guard.
One of the stumbling blocks to launching a new negotiating round was the
administration's insistence that new discussions include a working group to study
the link between trade and labor issues. The Clinton administration has also been
pushing for future trade agreements to take environmental standards into account.
Both of those issues are deeply opposed by the more than 100 developing
countries who make up the bulk of the WTO's membership. They argue that
linking trade agreements with labor and environmental standards represents a
threat to the competitive advantages they enjoy over industrial countries.
Senate Finance Committee William Roth told Summers that while such issues
could be addressed ``we feel there are other forums for doing so'' other than the
WTO. He said the administration's intransigence on this point was causing a
harmful delay in starting new trade discussions to open markets for U.S. products.
Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., told Summers the administration was
trying to have it both ways, arguing that it supported a more open trading system
while pursuing efforts to impose trade barriers against countries with deficient
labor and environmental rules.
``You can't say we want a more open trade system and we want arrangements that
will prevent trade,'' Moynihan said. ``American trade policy is in a crisis. It is the
only crisis on the horizon that could spoil the economic good times.''
Summers told the Senate committee that the administration was simply trying to
get approval for a study group to look at the link between trade and labor issues.
However, that issue was muddled during the negotiations when President Clinton
said in a newspaper interview that the ultimate U.S. goal was to impose sanctions
against countries with poor labor standards.
Both Summers and Barshefsky, who appeared separately before a House Ways
and Means trade subcommittee, insisted that the administration was continuing to
work with other countries to find ways to find compromises that allow for a new
round of trade discussions. Barshefsky noted the WTO had agreed to start
preliminary discussions in the area of agriculture and services while trying to work
out ways to launch a broader trade round.
The House panel received a General Accounting Office report that said no one
factor could be blamed for the failure of the Seattle talks but it did suggest too little
advance work had been done to narrow differences before the trade ministers
reached Seattle.
Barshefsky insisted that the world trading system would survive the Seattle
breakdown, noting that there have been many such negotiating failures in the past
with the WTO's predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
But Rep. William Thomas, R-Calif., challenged that assertion, saying the collapse
of the Seattle meetings was ``far more disastrous'' because of the extensive
television coverage of the street protests.
The administration received support for its insistence on linking future trade deals
with labor and environmental protections from environmental groups and labor
organizations who testified before the House panel.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said the current rules of the global economy
``have freed up corporations to move production around the globe in search of the
most vulnerable and disenfranchised workers and the most lax regulation.''
AP-NY-02-08-00 1819EST