Copyright 1999 Journal of Commerce, Inc.
Journal of
Commerce
December 20, 1999, Monday
SECTION: EDITORIAL/OPINION; Pg. 9
LENGTH: 745 words
HEADLINE: US
needs a special ambassador for trade
BYLINE: BY DURWOOD
ZAELKE
BODY:
The Seattle summit failed because the
World Trade Organization and the U.S. trade representative didn't think they had
to listen to the demands of labor unions, consumer and environmental groups, or
to the demands of the developing countries, the majority of the WTO
membership.
Had they listened, they would have known these
disparate interests were unanimous in their opposition to a trade system that
wasn't working for them.
And they also might have understood that the
combined forces in Seattle would be too much for the old-style trade
negotiations, which saw the few rich countries dictate the terms of any
agreement to the rest of the world. Those days are over; real reforms must be
made. But the way forward will not be easy. It is not clear that there is a
workable coalition of critics who can promote real reform within the WTO and the
U.S. trade-policy process. The coalition in Seattle was held together largely by
common opposition to the WTO, and deeper alliances may be harder to find.
Labor standards are anathema to developing countries, many of which see
cheap labor as key to their development strategy. Nor do developing countries
support environmental protection or consumer interests. More often they see
these as further attempts to restrict their right to secure the economic rewards
their citizens clamor for.
Perhaps it will be up to environmental groups
to work more closely with labor and developing countries to promote sustainable
development. But time is running out on critical environmental issues, starting
with global warming and species extinction.
Whatever its limitations,
the Seattle coalition is a powerful force that will continue to block further
trade negotiations until some country steps up to the plate to lead real reform
in the WTO. If President Clinton is up to the challenge, he could use his
prodigious talents to provide leadership.
He will have to begin by
wrestling the reins from the U.S. Trade Representative's Office, however. The
USTR's single-focus economic- liberalization strategy works by stiff-arming all
noneconomic issues, as well as the interests of the world's poorer countries.
The agency is so wedded to the old style that it was unable to respond
to the repeated warnings from other agencies or from environmental, consumer and
labor groups about what would happen in Seattle if these broader interests were
not accommodated.
Rather than trying to reform the USTR, the White House
needs to reassign the responsibility for trade and environment issues. One
possibility is to appoint a special ambassador for trade and sustainable
development, reporting directly to the president.
The ambassador should
work with developing countries to promote democracy and environmental
protection, and to help them pursue greater equity in the WTO. He or she should
have the mandate to direct U.S. foreign assistance to build the institutional
capacity in key developing countries to promote democracy and environmental
protection.
The ambassador also should help these countries understand
the benefits of trade liberalization, and the strategies that will help them
achieve a greater share of the benefits of trade - including strategies that
rely on more equitable transfer of technology, especially technology that
promotes sustainable development.
Within the United States, the special
ambassador should coordinate the interagency process to ensure that the
expertise of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Interior Department, the
Justice Department and other key agencies is considered early in the process of
designing trade strategies.
The ambassador also should work with
environmental groups to ensure that their energy and ideas also are considered
early. A review of the economic, social and environmental costs and benefits of
the Uruguay Round should be coordinated by the ambassador, as should reviews of
new trade negotiations.
Finally, the ambassador should coordinate a
dialogue within the United States on the precautionary principle of not taking
safety for granted. It's a key foundation of U.S. environmental laws, but is
being resisted in the international realm.
Until the United States takes
the lessons of Seattle to heart and reforms its own trade-policy process, the
growing strength of environmentalists, consumers and labor around the world will
continue to block further trade liberalization. This is not a threat, merely a
prediction.
LOAD-DATE: December 20, 1999
