Aide: Kerry Would Shift Trade Focus Toward WTO
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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 (news -
web sites).
That probably would lead to more emphasis
on enforcement issues and World Trade
Organization (news - web sites) 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.
Brainard minimized the difficulty of redrafting that pact in a way that
would be acceptable to the countries and a majority in Congress. But
she downplayed the economic importance of the bilateral agreements,
saying studies done by the U.S. International Trade Commission show a
"rather small" overall benefit to the U.S. economy.
Brainard also said she did not see proof to support U.S. Trade
Representative Robert Zoellick's claim that bilateral trade deals help built
momentum for a new WTO agreement.
"It's very, very hard to discern" any positive spillover from one to the
other, Brainard said.
Richard Fisher, a deputy U.S. trade representative in the Clinton
administration, disagreed. "Zoellick's approach has been the right one. I
would have done it the same," he said.
The Bush administration is currently pursuing deals with Thailand,
Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, South Africa and four of its
neighbors. Kerry would finish talks already started, but may not launch
new ones, Fisher said.
Both Brainard and Fisher said they had no idea who Kerry might tap as
his chief trade negotiator if elected. "It's a junior cabinet position" and
Kerry is unlikely to give it much thought until after the election, Fisher
said. |
