NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/10326

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Subject: TRADE.NEWS 1-22-93
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TRADE NEWS BULLETIN Volume II Number 13
Friday, January 22, 1993
__________________________________________________
GATT News Summary
__________________________________________________
CLINTON'S AGRICULTURE STANCE UNCLEAR

EC Trade Commissioner Leon Brittan and GATT chief Arthur Dunkel
plan to meet with new U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor next
week as part of an effort to complete world trade talks before the
U.S. fast-track negotiating mandate runs out in March.  The new U.S.
trade strategy is still largely undefined, but Belgian Foreign Minister
Willy Claes said yesterday he did not think concluding the Uruguay
Round of GATT would be any easier under the Clinton
Administration.

Kantor has indicated he will re-examine the EC-U.S. farm trade
accord reached last November, and new U.S. Agriculture Secretary
Mike Espy said in his Senate confirmation hearing that he plans "to
be more unreasonable than our EC counterparts" as he promised to
pursue a good deal for U.S. farmers.  Espy also called the U.S. Export
Enhancement Program (EEP) "a necessary and effective tool in
maintaining competitiveness of our exports in the face of heavy
subsidization by other countries."

Britain's National Farmers Union and outgoing German Farm Minister
Ignaz Kiechle are stressing the need to conclude the GATT
negotiations, but France continues to oppose an agreement it feels is
inconsistent with the EC's Common Agricultural Policy.
Demonstrations on GATT and agriculture continue.  Last Friday, fifty
French farmers broke into and occupied the New Zealand embassy in
Paris to protest New Zealand's appeal to GATT for increased mutton
export quotas to the EC. "The dramatic situation of sheep producers is
the result of the effort to promote global free trade at the lowest
price," said a farm union official.

Japanese Agriculture Minister Masami Tanabu has expressed
willingness to meet with Kantor to discuss Japan's rice policy.  Japan
currently bans rice imports on national food security grounds, and
has resisted a Dunkel proposal to replace the ban with tariffs, which
would be fazed out by 1999.  In a public debate, Professor Masaru
Morishima of Tokyo University said Dunkel's tariffication plan "could
be the end of Japanese agriculture."  Professor Yujiro Hayami of
Aoyama Gakuin University predicted lower losses and said
tariffication through GATT would be preferable to bilateral
negotiations with the U.S. that could lead to a complete drop on rice
import barriers.  "Dunkel's plan means purgatory for Japanese
farmers.  But bilateral talks with the U.S would mean hell," he said.

Source: David Dodwell, "Brittan Blitz on GATT Talks," FINANCIAL
TIMES, January 21, 1993;  "Clinton Will Not Make GATT Easier, Says
Belgium," REUTER, January 21, 1993; "USDA's Espy Skeptical of GATT
Farm Pact Benefits," REUTER, January 21, 1993; "No Changes in U.S.
Farm Program Now - USDA's Espy," REUTER, January 21, 1993; Peter
Blackburn, "German, French Farm Ministers Differ Over GATT,"
REUTER, January 22, 1993; "French Farm Protesters Occupy New
Zealand Embassy," REUTER, January 22, 1993; "Japan Farm Minister
Plans to Meet Kantor on Rice," REUTER, January 21, 1993; "Japan Rice
Tariffs Seen Hurting Farmers - Professor," REUTER, January 21, 1993;
Bernard Simon,
__________________________________________________
CANADA REAFFIRMS REJECTION OF TARIFFS

Top Canadian trade, agriculture and industry officials yesterday
denied press reports that Canada was considering the tariffication of
import controls on supply-managed agricultural goods.  Agriculture
Minister Pierre Blais said, "Canada remains committed to supply
management as an essential element of Canada's agricultural policy."
Tariffication is viewed as a major threat to the country's supply
management program.

The Canadian Chicken Marketing Agency and the Dairy Farmers of
Canada issued statements expressing outrage at the press reports.

Source: "Canada Considers Customs Tariffs," FINANCIAL TIMES;
"Canada's Position on Agriculture Remains Firm in GATT Talks,"
NEWS RELEASE, Government of Canada, no.12, January 21, 1993;
"Statement by Annual Meeting of Dairy Farmers of Canada to Rt.
Honorable Brian Mulroney, Prime Minister," January 21, 1993;
"Chicken Producers Request Meeting With Prime Minister," PRESS
RELEASE, Canadian Chicken Marketing Agency, January 21, 1993.
__________________________________________________
LATIN AMERICAN NATIONS FIGHT EC BANANA REGIME

Colombia and Costa Rica have said they will object to any GATT deal
that upholds EC limits on Latin American banana imports.
Meanwhile, Ecuador is assembling lawyers to appeal the restrictions
to the EC, the GATT and the international court at the Hague.  Latin
American banana producing nations are planning a summit on the
issue February 10.

The EC last month adopted a 2.2 million ton quota on Latin American
bananas, with a tariff structure that increases dramatically when the
quota is exceeded.  The arrangement honors market access
guarantees promised to traditional suppliers in Africa, the Caribbean,
the Pacific (ACP countries) under the Lome Convention.  EC imports
of Latin American bananas, which are produced more cheaply and on
larger-scale plantations than ACP bananas, amounted to 2.9 million
tons in 1992.

Source: "Colombia and Costa Rica Protest EC Banana Issue," REUTER,
January 19, 1993;  "Ecuador Assembles Lawyers to Fight EC Banana
Issue," REUTER January 21, 1993;  "Banana Exporters Say EC
Restrictions Will Cost 174,000 jobs," UNITED PRESS, January 21, 1993.
__________________________________________________

NAFTA News Summary
__________________________________________________
TRINATIONAL ANALYSIS TEAM BLASTS NAFTA

Social and environmental organizations from Mexico, Canada and the
U.S. met in Mexico City January 15 -16 to share their analyses of the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and to develop
common strategies.  The groups said they shared a common suffering
from "the negative effects of neo-liberal policies on the well-being of
our peoples and our nations' sovereignty."  A tri-national declaration
specifically criticized the Energy, Agriculture, Intellectual Property
Rights and Foreign Investment and Financial Services sections of the
NAFTA text.  All participants agreed on the importance of developing
a trade agreement that asserts a social agenda to ensure higher living
standards for citizens of all three countries.

Source:  FINAL DECLARATION,  trinational NAFTA analysis network,
January 17, 1993.
__________________________________________________
OTHER TRADE NEWS
__________________________________________________
AFRICAN BLOC AIMS FOR FTA BY YEAR 2,000

Leaders of the 18-member Preferential Trade Area (PTA) for Eastern
and Southern Africa declared their intention to slash internal tariffs
60 percent by October and achieve a common market by the end of
the decade.  At a summit meeting this week, the leaders agreed that
non-tariff barriers within the bloc should be eliminated immediately.
Some analysts are skeptical the target dates can be met, citing civil
wars in three member states and the long process undergone by the
more stable EC.

The PTA is made up of Angola, Burundi, Comores, Djibouti, Ethiopia,
Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia,
Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.  Zaire
and Namibia applied for membership.  Of all trade currently carried
out by member countries, 4.6 percent is within the grouping.

Source: Anton Ferriera, "African Leaders Say Progress on Common
Market Slow," REUTER; January 21, 1993, "African Trade Bloc Urges
Scrapping of Tariffs," January 21, 1993, REUTER.
__________________________________________________
RESOURCES

"The 1990's: The Decade of Global Competition - Without Restrictive
Business Practices?" by Philippe Brisick.  An examination of how
restrictive business practices by large corporations fit in with the
idea of competition embodied in trade liberalization measures.
Brisick is chief of the Restrictive Business Practices Unit at the UN
Conference on Trade and Development.  An "Occasional Paper"
published by the International Coalition for Development Action
(ICDA), 115 Rue Stevin, 1040 Brussels, BELGIUM; tel:
32/2/230.04.30;  fax:/32/2/230.03.48; E-mail: [e-mail]
__________________________________________________
Produced by: Hannah Holm
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]
_________________________________________________________