Aide: Kerry Would Shift Trade Focus Toward WTO

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Aide: Kerry Would Shift Trade Focus Toward WTO


By Doug Palmer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat John Kerry probably would put more time and energy into world trade talks and enforcing existing agreements than pursuing bilateral deals like the Bush administration has, a campaign adviser said.

"Most likely you would see a strategic rethink of how resources should be allocated across the various priorities in trade policy," said Lael Brainard, who served as a senior economics aide to former President Bill Clinton.

That probably would lead to more emphasis on enforcement issues and World Trade Organization negotiations, "which at the end of the day delivers a lot more bang for the buck," said Brainard, who is on leave from the Brookings Institution think tank to advise the Democratic presidential candidate on trade issues. She spoke in an interview late on Tuesday with Reuters.

The Bush administration has racked up a string of free trade agreements -- two of them begun by Clinton -- since taking office. The most controversial, a free trade pact with five Central American countries, remains stuck in the U.S. Congress because of strong opposition from Democrats who complain its labor and environmental provisions are too weak.

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=6138286

[papau]

1. Makes sense as WTO agreements are the only ones that are effective - and

WTO is where we need the rules changed so as to include union right, civil rights, fair wage, safe job, and clean environment concerns.

[robcon]

2. I don't agree.

The real effective trade treaty is not the WTO, but is the one behind the EU. WTO is very slow to change/adapt because there are so many countries in WTO.

We need to keep getting bilateral/regional treaties to make it attractive for more and more countries to lower tariffs - or miss out on the largest economy in the world, the U.S.