House could delay major trade votes
Reuters | Tuesday, June 13, 2006
House could delay major trade votes
By Doug Palmer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of U.S. lawmakers pushed on Tuesday for a new trade deal with Vietnam, but a senior Republican said Congress may not vote on trade legislation until after November’s congressional election.
House of Representatives Majority Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, told a business group on Tuesday that votes on trade agreements were difficult for many lawmakers, especially in an election year.
He said last year’s vote on a free trade pact with Central America left "a lot of bruised members" who were reluctant to vote on another trade pact before November, though it may be possible to approve some trade agreements after the election.
The Bush administration has negotiated free trade agreements with Oman, Peru and Colombia that many business groups would like to see approved this year.
Boehner’s cautious outlook came as legislation was introduced in the House and Senate to extend "permanent normal trade relations" (PNTR) to Vietnam as part of a U.S. deal paving the way for Hanoi to join the World Trade Organization.
Like many other communist or formerly communist countries, Vietnam’s trade relations with the United States are linked to human rights and emigration concerns under a Cold War provision known as Jackson-Vanik.
Sen. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said he would push for approval of PNTR for Vietnam by the August congressional recess. Boehner and other key Republicans did not rule that out, but said there had been no decision on timing yet.
U.S. officials signed the trade deal with Vietnam late last month in Ho Chi Minh City. Many American business groups support the pact, which requires Hanoi to lower tariffs and other barriers that restrict imports of U.S. goods and services, and are pushing for a vote by the August break.
The U.S. textile sector fiercely opposes the agreement, which its say will open the door to a flood of cheap clothing from Vietnam. They want the Bush administration to negotiate a "safeguard" provision which would allow the United States to curb imports in response to a sharp surge.
In a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab, a bipartisan group of 44 textile state lawmakers urged the United States to press Vietnam to agree to a safeguard provision as part of final WTO accession deal.
They also asked Schwab to seek protections for the U.S. textile sector in a separate world trade deal being negotiated.
Many textile state lawmakers oppose almost all trade agreements. But a few — like Rep. Robin Hayes, a North Carolina Republican — have helped the Bush administration narrowly win approval of trade deals, like the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement.
The textile state lawmakers threatened in their letter to oppose other pending trade agreements unless their concerns about Vietnam and world trade talks were addressed.
(Additional reporting by Donna Smith and Andy Sullivan)
