TRADE NEWS BULLETIN Volume 2 Number 88 Wednesday, May 19, 1993 ________________________________________________________ NAFTA News Summary ________________________________________________________ MULRONEY TRIES TO SELL NAFTA IN EUROPE Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney met with European leaders and executives last week to promote the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and encourage investment in Canada. In London, Mulroney told British Prime Minister John Major that NAFTA "presents extraordinary new investment opportunities for Europeans seeking to do business in North America through investments in Canada." Mulroney also traveled to Bonn to discuss investment opportunities with some of Germany's largest investors. "They are considering investments of significance in Ontario and elsewhere (in Canada)," Mulroney said. Mulroney said he expects the Canadian Parliament to pass NAFTA in the near future. A House of Commons committee completed a review last week, sending the legislation to a third and final debate in Parliament. The New Democratic Party and other opposition leaders say the Conservatives, led by Mulroney, could push NAFTA through the Commons by May 27. The draft would then move on to the Senate for a final vote. Canadian Defense Minister Kim Campbell, the front-runner to replace Mulroney when he steps down this June, said she would like to use NAFTA as a tool to open Canadian trade with the Pacific Rim. "I would aggressively seek to open up access to the markets of the Pacific Rim," Campbell said in Vancouver during a debate with five other Conservative party candidates. "One of the interesting things about NAFTA is that it has provisions for expanding its scope, but not limited to this hemisphere." Sources: "Candidate Campbell Pushes Canada Trade With Pacific Rim," JOURNAL OF COMMERCE, May 17, 1993; "PM Sells NAFTA in Europe," NEWSCAN, May 14, 1993; "NAFTA Heads For Third and Final Reading," NEWSCAN, May 14, 1993; "Canada's Campbell Seeks to Boost Pacific Rim Trade," REUTER, May 14, 1993. ________________________________________________________ PEROT BUYS TV TIME FOR ANTI-NAFTA CAMPAIGN Former presidential candidate and Texas billionaire Ross Perot has purchased 30 minutes of prime U.S. television air time to speak out against the North American Free Trade Agreement. Perot said "Keeping Your Job in the USA" will be the theme of the program airing on NBC at 8 p.m. EDT on Sunday, May 30. Perot has attacked the current NAFTA draft, saying it will send American jobs to Mexico. During recent testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, Perot argued that NAFTA would have the same impact as previous trade agreements where "entire industries had been lost overseas as a by- product." The Clinton Administration and NAFTA supporters are concerned that Perot's anti-NAFTA campaign will trigger new opposition and make it increasingly difficult to pass the trade pact in Congress. Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari will visit the United States next week in an attempt to gain support for NAFTA. The trade pact continues to face strong opposition, not only from Perot, but from members of Congress and labor and environmental groups. President Clinton has also announced plans to tour the country in an effort to win Americans' support for NAFTA. Salinas will begin his tour May 27, and plans to stop in Ann Arbor, Michigan, New York City, Boston and Dallas. No public meetings are scheduled between Salinas and any members of the Clinton Administration. Sources: "Perot Buys TV Time to Speak Against NAFTA," UPI, May 18, 1993; "Mexico's President Salinas to Visit U.S.," REUTER, May 18, 1993. ________________________________________________________ GATT News Summary ________________________________________________________ U.S. SAYS GATT STILL STALLED OVER AGRICULTURE The U.S. says it expects General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations to remain stalled over agricultural trade, particularly European market access issues. Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Rufus Yerxa said yesterday that he did not know if a market access package for agriculture could be drafted before the July summit of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations. "The Uruguay Round has obviously been a long and arduous ordeal," said Yerxa during a speech in Washington. "It's still some way towards completion." France continues to resist GATT demands for greater farm market access. The American Farm Bureau Federation, the nation's largest farm organization, warned yesterday that it would ask Congress to reject any GATT proposal if a satisfactory deal is not reached on market access issues. According to Dean Kleckner, president of the Farm Bureau, the French are pushing for a market access settlement that would reduce market access in products that already have more than three to five percent market share. Kleckner says many American farm products already enjoy a greater market share. "My concern is that if there isn't a recognition by the EC that access has to be as good as it is now, and then better, it would make it very difficult to sign a GATT deal," Kleckner told reporters in Paris. "The Farm Bureau will have to go to the U.S. Congress," he warned. The European Community wants to measure market access according to groups of commodities, whereas the United States favors a commodity-by-commodity approach. A GATT report, issued Monday, acknowledges European efforts to improve market access by lowering trade barriers for the telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and coal industries. But the report concludes that the Community has not altered its tough stance on agricultural policy. "To date there has been little change in the intensity of agricultural protection," the report states. Sources: Don Peterson, "Midwest Farm Report," UPI, May 19, 1993; "U.S. Farm Lobby May Ask Congress to Reject GATT Deal," REUTER, May 19, 1993; Lyndsay Griffiths, "U.S. Sees Rough Ride Ahead in GATT Trade Talks," REUTER, May 18, 1993; Robert Evans, "GATT Says EC Opening Markets But Not in Farm Goods," REUTER, May 18, 1993; Nancy Dunne, "U.S. Farmers Give Warning on GATT," FINANCIAL TIMES, May 12, 1993. ________________________________________________________ Produced by: Kai Mander and Gigi Boivin The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) 1313 Fifth Street SE, Suite #303, Minneapolis, MN 55414-1546 USA Telephone:(612)379-5980 Fax:(612)379-5982 E-Mail:kmander@igc.apc.org ________________________________________________________