THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2002
US, Singapore near trade deal
REUTERS
WASHINGTON: The US reached a tentative free-trade agreement with Singapore on Wednesday, the first of what the Bush administration hopes will be a web of similar deals worldwide.
But even after two years of work, and talks that stretched until just before dawn this morning, the two countries could not reach a final agreement because of disputes about Singapore's ability to impose capital controls in a financial crisis.
The new agreement, if completed and approved by Congress, would eliminate tariffs on about $33 billion in trade between the two countries and would give American banks and service companies more access to one of Asia's main financial centres. It is probably more important as an indicator of the United States' new strategy in opening up global trade markets.
That strategy increasingly relies on negotiating deals with individual countries and small regions, in part to build support for more ambitious projects, like a "free trade agreement for the Americas" and a new global trade agreement at the World Trade Organisation.
In addition to Singapore, the White House hopes to wrap up a free-trade deal with Chile by the end of the year. It is also starting talks with five countries in Central America and with Australia, and it is trying to open talks with other countries in Southeast Asia.
But the US is actually behind the European Union, which has already negotiated its own market-opening deals with Chile and several other countries. Reaching a pact with Singapore is easier than with many nations because it has historically been a free-trade port for imported goods and it is a high-wage nation with a service-based economy.
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