US hopes to sign Vietnam trade pact at APEC meeting
WASHINGTON - The United States hopes to sign a groundbreaking trade deal with Vietnam next week despite strong objections from some American manufacturers, a senior US official said.
Deputy US Trade Representative Karan Bhatia said that once the accord is signed, Congress should move quickly to grant Vietnam permanent normal trade relations status and so enable it to join the
World Trade Organization this year.
Bhatia acknowledged deep concerns felt by US textile manufacturers at the prospect of a flood of cheap Vietnamese imports, but said the market access accord provided them with "every reasonable protection".
The official was due to leave Tuesday for Taiwan and India, before heading for a three-day stop in Vietnam next week that will take in a June 1-2 meeting of trade ministers from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (
APEC) forum.
"If we're able to take care of all the necessary nuts and bolts before June ... it would be a possibility to sign it in Ho Chi Minh City," Bhatia told reporters in reference to the trade pact clinched last week.
"But we've got to make sure that we've got all those nuts and bolts nailed down. That's what we're trying very hard to do right now."
Bhatia said also that Washington hopes the APEC meeting will issue a "strong statement of support in favour of an ambitious outcome to the (WTO's) Doha round this year", and also endorse strong protection of trade copyright.
He said it was possible that his fellow deputy trade representative, Susan Schwab, would attend the APEC meeting in Ho Chi Minh City if she is confirmed in time to succeed outgoing US Trade Representative Rob Portman (news, bio, voting record), who has been named the new White House budget chief.
Portman said last week that the agreement on market access will "substantially lower" Vietnamese barriers to a wide range of US farm produce, services and industrial goods.
It will also take Vietnam a step closer to joining the WTO ahead of the APEC summit in Hanoi in November, to be attended by Asia-Pacific leaders including US
President George W. Bush.
Before gaining entry to the WTO, however, Vietnam must first be granted permanent normal trade relations status by the US Congress, where the communist government's human rights record is likely to come under close scrutiny.
And US textile producers, already struggling to cope with a massive increase in competition from China, have stepped up a lobbying campaign in Congress against the Vietnam deal.
Bhatia, however, said the agreement should win the broadest support because it carries special provisions not seen in previous such deals between the US and other countries involving WTO entry.
Those include a requirement for Vietnam to scrap all "illegal subsidies" in textiles immediately on joining the WTO, and the right for the United States to re-impose quotas on Vietnamese imports if the subsidies remain in place.
US negotiators rebuffed Vietnamese requests to phase in the textile provisions over time, Bhatia said.
"We have crafted an agreement that is as strong as any WTO accession agreement in this regard," he said.
"Once we have signed it, it would be our hope that PNTR (permanent normal trade relations) legislation would move quickly."
Agence France Presse - May 22, 2006.
US to sign Vietnam deal despite textile protests
WASHINGTON - The United States will soon sign a deal paving the way for Vietnam to join the
World Trade Organization, despite U.S. textile industry protests, a top U.S. trade official said on Monday.
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Karan Bhatia told reporters Washington hoped to sign the agreement at a June 1-2 meeting of trade ministers of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The two sides reached an agreement in principle earlier this month.
"We're in the process of working up the legal documentation -- crossing 't's and dotting 'i's hopefully -- and if we can get all that done before the June visit ... hopefully we would be able to sign it then," Bhatia said at a briefing on his upcoming trip to Taiwan, India and Vietnam.
U.S. textile producers have complained the agreement with Vietnam will open the U.S. market to heavily subsidized foreign competition. Washington limits the amount of clothing and textiles that Vietnam can ship to the United States, but has to give up those quotas when Hanoi joins the WTO.
Bhatia defended the deal the United States negotiated, saying it would provide significant new market opening for U.S. manufacturers and service industry providers in sectors ranging from banking to telecommunications.
"I believe it is also a good agreement for American textile manufacturers" because of a commitment Hanoi made to eliminate all WTO-prohibited subsidies upon joining the WTO, Bhatia said. The pact allows the United States to reimpose quotas for one year if Vietnam fails to honor that commitment.
U.S. textile producers say the enforcement mechanism lacks strong enough teeth to force Hanoi give up its subsidies.
They have pushed for a "safeguard" provision that would allow the United States to reimpose quotas on Vietnam clothing and textiles in response to an import surge.
Hanoi still must finish negotiations on a multilateral agreement with all WTO members before it can join the world trade group, which is its goal by the end of this year.
Bhatia said the United States had no plans to push for a textile safeguard measure as part of the multilateral talks.
Congress must approve permanent normal trade relations with Hanoi as part of the WTO accession deal. The Bush administration wants lawmakers to vote on that as quickly as possible after the bilateral deal is signed, Bhatia said.
Reuters - May 22, 2006.
|