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- From: Andrew Lang <lang@igc.apc.org>
- Subject: TRADE.NEWS 12-17-92
- Message-ID: <1992Dec19.000049.9776@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
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- Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 00:00:49 GMT
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- /* Written 1:47 pm Dec 17, 1992 by kmander@igc.apc.org in igc:trade.news */
- /* ---------- "TRADE.NEWS 12-17-92" ---------- */
-
- TRADE NEWS BULLETIN Volume I Number 213
- Thursday, December 17, 1992
- _________________________________________________________
- NAFTA News Summary
- _________________________________________________________
- LEADERS SCHEDULED TO SIGN NAFTA TODAY
-
- The leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico will sign the
- North American Free Trade Agreement today amid increasing
- concerns that it will cause job losses and environmental destruction
- (see story below). U.S. President George Bush, Canadian Prime
- Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de
- Gortari initialed the trade pact in San Antonio, Texas October 7, but
- today's official signing sends the agreement to the countries'
- legislatures for consideration. The leaders will sign NAFTA in a
- ceremony that will include telephone and possible video link-ups
- between Washington, Ottawa and Mexico City.
-
- While Bush faces a tough battle getting NAFTA approved in Congress,
- Canadian and Mexican officials are expecting an easier time. They
- contend that U.S. President-elect Bill Clinton will not delay the pact
- and that the ratification process will proceed as scheduled. "Our
- understanding is that (Clinton) is satisfied with the text of NAFTA as
- it is and wants to negotiate additional parallel agreements on
- environmental and labor safety standards," a Canadian trade official
- said. "He does not intend to reopen the text."
-
- Salinas will have little trouble in the Mexican Senate where his
- Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) commands a huge majority.
- But many in Mexico fear widespread job losses and business closures
- due to new competition. In a recent State of the Nation address,
- Salinas said increased competition "will mean greater investment and
- gains in production and exports."
-
- Source: "Bush to Sign Mexico Trade But Opposition Mounts," REUTER,
- December 16, 1992; "Canada Expects Clinton to Seek Fast NAFTA
- Approval," December 16, 1992; "NAFTA Signing Locks in Salinas
- Economic Reforms," REUTER, December 16, 1992;
- _________________________________________________________
- GROUPS ANNOUNCE NEW CAMPAIGN AGAINST NAFTA
-
- At a press conference yesterday, a coalition of labor, environmental,
- consumer and farm groups -- claiming to represent some 40 million
- Americans -- said NAFTA would cost thousands of U.S. jobs and hurt
- the environment. The AFL-CIO, Greenpeace, National Farmers Union,
- the National Consumers League and others announced a new
- campaign to encourage Congress to defeat NAFTA.
-
- Jesse Jackson told the conference that Bush should allow President-
- elect Bill Clinton to improve the trade pact. "Let us work with the
- Clinton Administration to craft a trade policy that binds our
- hemisphere together on the crucial issues of jobs, trade, energy, the
- environment and economic development."
-
- William Bywater, president of the International Union of Electronic,
- Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers called for a
- rejection of NAFTA. "I believe the American people, if they know
- what's behind it, that their jobs are in jeopardy ... they are going to
- be against this NAFTA agreement," he said.
-
- In one of a series of planned television and newspaper
- advertisements by the coalition, today's NEW YORK TIMES (national
- edition 12-17-92, p. A7), WASHINGTON POST and USA TODAY
- contain advertisements protesting today's signing. Under the
- headline, "Without Regard to the Human Impact of Their Decisions,"
- the groups contend the current draft of NAFTA would: undermine
- labor, environmental and social standards; lead to environmental
- ruin; cause massive U.S. and Canadian job losses; destroy family
- farms; and threaten democratic process.
-
- The legislatures of Canada and Mexico must also approve the deal,
- but the coalition will focus its efforts on defeating NAFTA in the U.S.
- law-making body.
-
- Source: "Without Regard to the Human Impact of Their Decisions,"
- NEW YORK TIMES, December 17, 1992, p. A7; Michelle Mittelstadt,
- "Free Trade," AP, December 16, 1992.
- _________________________________________________________
- GATT News Summary
- _________________________________________________________
- FRANCE VOWS TO BLOCK EC FARM PROPOSAL IN GATT
-
- In a move that seems to have ended any possibility of wrapping up
- global trade talks this year, France announced it would block
- European Community offers to cut import tariffs on agriculture
- products. The announcement came only hours after the EC had
- presented the proposals to the General Agreement on Tariffs and
- Trade (GATT).
-
- French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas said he told GATT Director-
- General Arthur Dunkel that European Commission negotiators had
- gone beyond their mandate and that the French government
- considered the farm proposals "null and void, and without (legal)
- commitment and value."
-
- Dumas was undoubtedly referring to EC External Affairs
- Commissioner Frans Andriessen and Agriculture Commissioner Ray
- MacSharry when he accused the two commissioners of being
- "disloyal to their mandates."
-
- Source: Clare Nullis, "France-Trade," AP, December 16, 1992; "Dumas
- Says EC GATT Offer 'Null and Void,'" REUTER, December 16, 1992;
- Bhushan Bahree, Bob Davis, "French Objection to Lower Farm Tariffs
- Will Likely Delay World Trade Talks," WALL STREET JOURNAL,
- December 17, 1992, p. A7; David Gardner, "EC Ministers Strive to Tie
- Up Farm Reform Loose Ends," FINANCIAL TIMES, December 17, 1992,
- p. 24.
- _________________________________________________________
- CLINTON HOPES FOR GATT DEAL SOON, AIDE SAYS
-
- President-elect Bill Clinton hopes the Bush Administration is
- successful in negotiating a GATT deal, said George Stephanopoulos,
- Clinton's communications director. "He supports GATT and he
- supports NAFTA, those positions stand," Stephanopoulus said.
-
- Source: "Spokesman Says Clinton Hopes for GATT Accord Soon,"
- REUTER, December 16, 1992.
- _________________________________________________________
- JAPANESE FARMERS RALLY TO KEEP RICE BAN
-
- Over ten thousand Japanese farmers took to the streets of Tokyo for
- the second day to protest a possible lifting of Japan's ban on foreign
- rice imports. "Japanese rice farming has created history and culture,"
- agriculture cooperative worker Haruo Kurihara told a rally at a sumo
- arena. "If imports from bigger farms are allowed, Japanese rice
- farming will be destroyed and Japanese culture and social order will
- collapse totally."
-
- GATT trading partners are pushing Japan to end the ban. In Tokyo
- Wednesday, EC External Affairs Commissioner Frans Andriessen
- encouraged Japan to take a "political" decision to replace the rice ban
- with a tariffication program. But Foreign Minister Michio Watanabe
- told Andriessen that Japan could not promise to lift the ban.
-
- Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa told a conference Wednesday that
- Japan must make a firm decision next month on whether to drop the
- ban.
-
- Source: Andrew Pollack, "Japanese Farmers Hold a Rally for Keeping a
- Ban on Rice Imports," NEW YORK TIMES, December 17, 1992, p. A7;
- Robert Thomson, "Japan Urged to Open Its Rice Market," FINANCIAL
- TIMES, December 17, 1992, p. 5; Risa Maeda, "Japan Retreats to Say
- No to Compromise on Rice Ban," December 16, 1992; "Miyazawa Says
- Japan Needs Rice Decisions Next Month," REUTER, December 16, 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:(612)379-5980 Fax:(612)379-5982
- E-Mail:kmander@igc.apc.org
- _________________________________________________________
-