Break seen in logjam over trade
New York Times
Break Seen in Logjam Over Trade
By Steven R. Weisman
28 March 2007
WASHINGTON, March 27 - Prospects for Congressional approval of several pending trade
pacts received a surprising lift on Tuesday when Democrats in the House proposed a series
of revisions that won guarded praise from both organized labor and the Bush
administration.
The Democratic proposals would require that the trade accords include provisions
protecting the rights of workers, the environment and the right of trading partners to
make cheap generic pharmaceuticals for use in their countries, all of which had
previously been resisted by the administration.
Charles B. Rangel, the New York Democrat who is chairman of the House Ways and Means
Committee, won approval of the proposals from the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and other
leading Democrats by using language aimed at strengthening these rights while trying to
meet some administration concerns.
What was unusual about the proposals is that they were praised by the A.F.L.-C.I.O. as an
improvement of the pending deals with Colombia, Panama and Peru and a pact being
negotiated with South Korea.
The proposals were also welcomed by the United States trade representative, Susan C.
Schwab.
Ms. Schwab hinted that the administration might seek to make some changes in the
Democrats’ proposals, which were embodied in a 15-page document submitted to her office
but not released to the public.
But Republicans, speaking anonymously, said the administration would have little choice
but to accept the broad outlines of the Democrats’ proposals if it wanted to win passage
in a Democratic-controlled Congress.
“This is another step in what has been a good-faith effort in a continuing dialogue by
all sides,” Ms. Schwab said. She is expected to meet with Mr. Rangel and Representative
Jim McCrery of Louisiana, the ranking Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, with a
goal of reaching an accord before the end of the week. Mr. McCrery also welcomed the
Democrats’ proposals.
Mr. Rangel said that he believed the negotiations would be successful.
“There may be some things I don’t know about that they won’t like,” he said. “But I don’t
know of any objections that can’t be worked out. The thing is, everyone is pretty upbeat
about this.”
By themselves, the accords on Colombia, Peru and Panama are not considered economically
significant. But Democrats and Republicans in Congress see them as a test for what the
administration might be willing to accept in future trade deals.
The administration, for example, hopes to salvage a global trade deal in coming months
that would lower tariff barriers in 180 countries worldwide, allowing the United States
to export financial services, manufactured goods and farm products to scores of countries
that now have tariffs or other barriers.
The global deal under the so-called Doha round of negotiations - named after the city in
Qatar where the talks started several years ago - has been stalled for nearly a year.
Also pending is the request of President Bush that his own authority to negotiate trade
deals and get an up-or-down vote in Congress be extended beyond its current expiration
date of June 30.
The administration must submit trade deals at least 90 days before the expiration of that
authority, which means that any changes in the Latin American trade pacts, and also in
the one being negotiated with South Korea, would have to be submitted with the changes
sought by Democrats this week.
Some lawmakers say that whatever is agreed to on these deals could provide a template for
the other deals, opening the possibility for more to be approved even at a time when the
administration and Democrats are at odds on a range of budget, tax and economic
regulatory policies.
In addition, Democrats say that even if Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Rangel and other party leaders in
the House support the Latin American or South Korean deals, a large number of Democrats
in the House and Senate would most likely oppose them on principle.
In the Senate, for example, several newly elected freshmen ran on campaigns calling for
no more trade deals under the Bush administration. On the other hand, Mr. Rangel and Ms.
Pelosi are under pressure from Wall Street, the high-technology industry and other
economic sectors to support lower trade barriers.
Mr. Rangel said he understood that no matter what, some Democrats will oppose trade
deals, and that some Republicans will as well.
“There’s going to be a coalition vote for trade with moderates in both parties in
support,” he said. “We are not going to have an appeal to the extremes like we’ve had in
the past. I think the moderates are going to give a larger vote than ever for trade.”
