NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/8665

Text File | 1992-11-24 | 8.0 KB | 169 lines

Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
Path: sparky!uunet!wupost!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!daemon
From: Andrew Lang <[e-mail]>
Subject: TRADE.NEWS 11-23-92
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: [e-mail]
Sender: [e-mail]
Nntp-Posting-Host: pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 04:54:52 GMT
Approved: [e-mail]
Lines: 154

/* Written  1:26 pm  Nov 23, 1992 by [e-mail] in igc:trade.news */
/* ---------- "TRADE.NEWS 11-23-92" ---------- */

TRADE NEWS BULLETIN    Volume I Number 200
Monday, November 23, 1992
_________________________________________________________
GATT News Summary
_________________________________________________________
FRANCE CALLS US-EC FARM DEAL "UNACCEPTABLE"

France has not given its endorsement to the recently announced EC-
US agriculture agreement and has asked for an emergency meeting
of European Community foreign and agriculture ministers to discuss
the deal.  Agriculture Minister Jean-Pierre Soisson said on Monday
that France would probably seek the meeting next week, once the
executive European Commission has discussed the deal on oilseeds
and farm trade on Wednesday.

Soisson called the EC-US deal "unacceptable" in two areas.  He
objected to the stipulation that 21 percent cuts in subsidized exports
be applied on a product-by-product basis instead of an aggregate
one.  Soisson also criticized the treaty's production limits for oilseeds
used for industrial purposes.

Soisson said trade issues will be discussed in a Franco-German
summit December 3-4, and at the EC summit in Edinburgh December
11.  He predicted the Uruguay Round would not be concluded until
next spring, after U.S. President-elect Bill Clinton assumes office.

Prime Minister Pierre Beregovoy said France would seek backing
from other EC nations in its opposition to the agriculture deal.
Beregovoy urged the governments yesterday to understand France's
position and to remember that France has backed their causes in the
past.  Beregovoy said France would consider using an obscure EC law
to veto the agreement if it has no alternative. "If at the very end,
there is no other possibility than for France to refuse, then France
will naturally refuse because we consider the fundamental interests
of (our) agricultural economy are at stake," Beregovoy said.

Source: Paul Taylor, "France Seeks Emergency EC Farm Deal Talks,"
REUTER, November 23, 1992; "Clinton, Not Bush, Will Finish GATT
Talks-Soisson," REUTER, November 23, 1992; Keith Bradsher, "The
Breakthrough Was the Result of a Gamble and A Last Minute Idea,"
NEW YORK TIMES, November 23, 1929, p. C3; Alan Riding, "France
Asks Other Nations to Rally Around Its Position," NEW YORK TIMES,
November 23, 1992, p. C3.
_________________________________________________________
EC-US FARM DEAL WILL NOT LEAD TO QUICK GATT FINISH

While the recent EC-US agriculture deal has increased the prospects
for completing the Uruguay Round of GATT, a number of other
stumbling blocks must be overcome before a global deal can be
completed.

Even if France does not block the agriculture accord, several other
nations -- Japan and South Korea in particular -- must make changes
in their agriculture policies before the agriculture section of GATT is
completed.  Under the proposed GATT deal, all nations would be
required to partially open their markets to imports.  Japanese Prime
Minister Kiichi Miyazawa has repeatedly said that Japan will refuse
to end its ban on rice imports.  The U.S. rice industry wants the U.S.
to push Japan to accept twice the amount contained in the proposal.

Even when the agriculture chapter is finished, other contentious
areas, such as telecommunications, financial services, maritime
services, government procurement contracts and intellectual
property rights, remain for negotiators to resolve.  Since the EC-US
agriculture deal was announced, other GATT member nations have
made it clear that they will not be hastily shepherded into
concluding the deal.  "Just because the U.S. and the Community have
blown a whistle overnight in Washington doesn't mean that everyone
will troop in the next day and sign an agreement," said B.K. Zutshi,
India's ambassador to GATT.

Economists have long noted how slowly GATT talks move.  Gary
Hufbauer, a trade economist at the Institute for International
Economics, said the negotiations have been "frozen in a glacier" while
the EC and U.S. argued over farm subsidies.  Jagdish Bhagwati, a
Columbia University economist and senior adviser to GATT, predicted
a GATT deal would be completed within months, but that it will not
be as far-reaching as predicted when the talks began over six years
ago.

Source: Bob Davis, "Tough Trade Issues Remain as EC, U.S. Agree on
Agriculture," WALL STREET JOURNAL, November 23, 1992, p. 1; Peter
Passell, "Although Trade Is Trickier, 'More Is Better' Is Still True,"
NEW YORK TIMES, November 23, 1992, p. 1.
_________________________________________________________
FARMERS NOT HAPPY WITH DEAL

French farmers expressed outrage over the completed agriculture
deal and began planning for a large protest Wednesday.  Meanwhile,
Britain's National Farmers Union (NFU) said farmers would benefit
from the general economic implications of a world trade deal but
they also feared it could lead to further pressure on farming
businesses.  "It is too soon to quantify any pressure, but we will take
up with agricultural institutions all the issues farmers will have to
face as a result of the implementation of this agreement," an NFU
spokesman said.

U.S. farmers were generally happy to have avoided a costly trade
war, but soybean farmers were angry that negotiators agreed to let
the EC set aside some of its land from oilseed production instead of
agreeing to firm production limits.  They fear the European farmers
could boost the yield on the land they can use.  "We're glad we
averted a trade war," said Clay Pederson, of the National Farmers'
Union, which represents 250,000 farmers.  "But we conceded an
awful lot."

Source: "Brussels Hopeful Over Trade Deal," FINANCIAL TIMES,
November 23, 1992, p. 1; "British farmers remain watchful after
GATT news," REUTER, November 20, 1992; Scott Kilman, "U.S. Farmers
Get Modest Shot in the Arm From Subsidy Compromise with the EC,"
WALL STREET JOURNAL, November 23, 1992, p. A4.
_________________________________________________________
NAFTA News Summary
_________________________________________________________
ANALYSTS: NAFTA WILL CUT ASEAN EXPORTS BY $2 BILLION

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) can expect a loss of
at least $2 billion in export earnings when the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect, analysts said.

Malaysia is expected to take the biggest loss, as its sales of clothing
and semi-conductor products to the United States decreases.  But
Mexico's ambassador to Malaysia, Jorge Dominguez, said NAFTA was
not intended to create new trade barriers.  "NAFTA is to be regarded
as a major contribution to vigorously expand global trade,
investment opportunities and employment generation," Dominguez
told a conference on global trade and finance in Kuala Lumpur.

Investment analyst Patrick Lim told reporters that losses could be
offset by increased trade and investment between ASEAN and the
Far East, especially China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Source: K.T. Arasu, "NAFTA Seen Cutting ASEAN Exports By $2
Billion," REUTER, November 23, 1992.
_________________________________________________________
Other On-line Conferences:

trade.strategy - a discussion of trade issues
trade.library - a repository of trade information
eai.news - a news summary of Latin American trade topics
susag.news - a news summary of sustainable agriculture issues

Produced by:
Kai Mander
The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)
1313 Fifth Street SE, Suite #303
Minneapolis, MN 55414-1546 USA

Telephone:[phone] Fax:[phone]
E-Mail:[e-mail]
_________________________________________________________