Tariffs And Trade

WASHINGTON -- As the battle over a world trade treaty enters a decisive final week, the Senate's top Republican linked his own crucial support for the pact yesterday to a key concession by President Clinton on tax cuts.Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, who will lead the Republican majority next year, demanded that the White House drop its opposition to a capital gains tax reduction. He indicated that this would affect how he would vote on the 123-nation agreement to slash trade barriers worldwide.

GATT may pass, but is it in our interest?I was in favor of the North American Free Trade Agreement, but I consider passage of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade not in the best interest of the U.S.NAFTA is important not so much as a trade agreement as a strategic investment in the long-term economic stability of Mexico and Canada. But economic growth and stability in countries elsewhere, though perhaps desirable, does not have the same strategic value to the U.S.GATT's proponents claim it will increase the number of high-paying jobs in the U.S. But removal of all tariff protection will actually decrease the number of low-paying jobs as labor-intensive production moves offshore.

By December we will know if the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade -- better known as GATT -- will enter middle age gracefully or go into a slow and bitter decline.After four years of long, often-tedious negotiations, the latest round of GATT talks, known as the Uruguay round, is scheduled to conclude in December with an agreement that will shape the future of international trade in the next century.In the last 40 years, international trade has expanded from $60 billion to $3 trillion, with approximately a third of that trade not governed by any international trade agreements.

C BEIJING -- Ending months of recrimination, China and the United States agreed yesterday to jointly press for Beijing's entry into the new World Trade Organization on a "flexible, pragmatic and realistic basis."The accords signed yesterday seek to put an end to the atmosphere of enmity that has characterized Chinese-American trade negotiations in general, and in particular, the negotiations over China's entry into the world trading system.And for the first time since December, the Beijing authorities have given a clear signal that they intend to return to the negotiating table after the collapse of China's original bid for membership in the World Trade Organization.

WASHINGTON -- Final passage of the new world trade agreement brings more than lower tariffs and trade barriers. It also forces companies with underfunded pension programs to put more money into the plans.The Retirement Protection Act, attached almost unnoticed to the enabling bill for the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, known as GATT, will apply to companies whose pension plans are less than 90 percent funded.The new law also will give more power to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

WASHINGTON -- Chances for reaching a world trade agreement on agriculture before four years of negotiations end next week are "very slim," Agriculture Secretary Clayton K. Yeutter said yesterday."

TORONTO -- Under strong U.S. trade pressure, the Canadian government announced yesterday that it would end discrimination against imports of foreign beer over the next three years, which could be a boost to the G. Heileman Brewing Co. brewery in Halethorpe.The confrontation between the United States and Canada over beer sales is one of several trade disputes that has had the two North American partners accusing each other of protectionist ways recently. Other battles are being fought over lumber and automobiles.

Even though the Canadian government has said it will lift restrictions on U.S. beer exports in the next three years, don't expect suds from the Heileman brewery in Halethorpe to be flowing north soon."

WASHINGTON -- U.S. and European officials advanced toward ending their long-running dispute over farm subsidies yesterday, improving the prospects for a new world trade agreement that could add an annual $195 billion to the global sales of goods and services within a decade.U.S. Trade Representative Carla A. Hills described her meeting with the Europeans as "good" and "useful" -- a striking improvement over the diplomatic chill that has characterized previous negotiating sessions.Mrs. Hills, who was accompanied by Secretary of State James A. Baker III, said the United States provided the sort of "political dimension" to the talks demanded by the Europeans to break the deadlock, but she refused to give details.

GENEVA -- After more than a week of steady if uneven progress, world trade talks have run into a roadblock as differences between the United States and France over the movie and entertainment business proved insurmountable.The failure of two meetings yesterday between U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor and the European Community's chief trade official, Sir Leon Brittan, left the fate of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade negotiations hanging in the balance with three days remaining until an agreed-upon Wednesday deadline.