>From kmander@igc.apc.org Fri Oct 1 18:39:48 1993 TRADE WEEK IN REVIEW AND RECENT PUBLICATIONS Friday, October 1, 1993 Volume 2 Number 175 Headlines: Congress May Vote on NAFTA Week Before Thanksgiving Congressional Support Weakens African Americans Pitted Against NAFTA, Illinois Poll Shows Women Will Be Hit Hard by NAFTA Dairy Industry Worries Over NAFTA Impact on Small Producers EC Aircraft Industry Calls for Special GATT Deal Proposed Textile Tariff Cuts Fall Short of Expectations Europeans Call for Exemption in GATT Canada Calls for New Agriculture Provisions ___________________________________________________________ NAFTA News Summary ___________________________________________________________ CONGRESS MAY VOTE ON NAFTA WEEK BEFORE THANKSGIVING There are strong indications from House and Senate leaders that a vote on the North American Free Trade Agreement will take place the week before Thanksgiving. Congressional leaders and the White House have apparently agreed on this timeline. Meanwhile, the House Ways and Means trade subcommittee has recommended several technical changes to NAFTA implementing legislation. Representative Lewis Payne (D-Virginia) proposed that Congress retain a say in what products qualify for the treaty's low tariff benefits under the rules of origin clause, even after NAFTA is enacted. -Congressional Support Weakens- A confidential survey of U.S. Representatives carried out by a pro- NAFTA coalition found a decline in congressional support for the free trade accord since an earlier poll on August 6. According to USANAFTA, only 80 Republicans and 28 Democrats are solidly in support of NAFTA, while 16 Republicans and 78 Democrats oppose it. The poll found 78 members remain undecided, compared to 67 in early August. -African Americans Pitted Against NAFTA, Illinois Poll Shows- Forty-nine percent of Illinois African American voters oppose NAFTA, while 29 percent support the pact, according to a recent poll conducted by CCR Telephone Research. "The strong opposition to NAFTA among black voters in the state shows that the side agreements introduced by President Clinton have done little to allay the concerns of his own supporters," said Don Wiener of the Fair Trade Campaign, a coalition of unions, environmental and church groups opposed to NAFTA. -Women Will Be Hit Hard by NAFTA- Women would be highly vulnerable to job loss under NAFTA because women dominate the workforce in those industries most likely to move plants and jobs to Mexico, says Thea Lee, an economist at Washington, D.C.'s Economic Policy Institute. Seventy-eight percent of the 988,000 apparel and manufacturing jobs in the United States are held by mostly minority and immigrant women, jobs which have already begun moving south of the border. "NAFTA would make many women more vulnerable -- either through job loss or lowered wages," Lee said. "And once women are displaced, they tend to fare worse than men do." -Dairy Industry Worries Over NAFTA Impact on Small Producers- Many Wisconsin family dairy farmers say they will not support NAFTA because they feel the free trade pact will lead to lower milk prices and a reduction of farm income. During a public conference earlier this month, Stewart G. Huber, president of the Farmers Union Milk Marketing Cooperative, criticized NAFTA for its rules of origin provisions, widely different food sanitary standards, excluding Canadian dairy, and the elimination of import quotas. In contrast, Wisconsin's Republican Governor Tommy Thompson recently argued that current import licensing restrictions keep Mexican consumers from buying Wisconsin cheese and that NAFTA would allow significant increases in cheese exports. Sources: "NAFTA-Congress," AP, September 30, 1993; "U.S. Congressional Support for NAFTA Eroding: US*NAFTA," RMALC BULLETIN, September 30, 1993; SENATOR RUSS FEINGOLD NEWS RELEASE, September 23, 1993; "NAFTA Dairy Concerns Debated at Conference," MILK MATTERS, September 15, 1993; "New Illinois Poll: Opposition to NAFTA Holding, African Americans Lead All Groups in Opposing," FAIR TRADE CAMPAIGN, September 27, 1993; Nancy Ryan, "NAFTA Called Job Risk for Women," CHICAGO TRIBUNE, September 29, 1993. ___________________________________________________________ GATT News Summary ___________________________________________________________ Members of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade shifted their focus from the troublesome Blair House farm accord this week to other targeted industries in the Uruguay Round of global trade talks. -EC Aircraft Industry Calls for Special GATT Deal- European aerospace firms Tuesday called for a separate trade pact under GATT to address specific needs of the industry. Aerospatiale of France, British Aerospace PLc and Deutsche Aerospace issued a joint statement calling for special status in GATT equal to a 1992 U.S.-EC deal on direct and indirect government support for aircraft programs. The 1992 agreement, hammered out after five years of talks, established a 33 percent ceiling on direct subsidies for new aircraft development programs and a four percent limit on indirect government subsidies. U.S. and EC civil aerospace manufacturers will discuss the matter in meetings next week. -Proposed Textile Tariff Cuts Fall Short of Expectations- EC negotiators and textile industry representative dismissed as "insufficient" a recent U.S. tariff-reduction proposal on woolen products. "From our position, their offer on textiles was very, very small," said one EC official. The U.S. proposal fell far short of the 50 percent reduction in textile tariffs promised by the U.S. last July during the Tokyo G7 summit. Instead, U.S. negotiators offered to cut duties on woolen fabric from 33 percent to 28 percent. -Europeans Call for Exemption in GATT- More than 4,000 European actors, artists and producers signed a petition calling for an exemption clause in GATT to protect the European industry from so-called "cultural dumping" by other trade partners, particularly the United States. Current EC law requires television stations to devote at least 50 percent of their broadcasts to European-made material, however the EC arts industry is concerned that American productions will flood the EC market under new GATT rules. France plans to call on the heads of 50 French-speaking countries this month to back its efforts for cultural exemption in GATT talks. Government representatives from West Africa to Indochina will gather October 16-18 at Port Louis, Mauritius for the fifth Francophone Summit. -Canada Calls for New Agriculture Provisions- The Canadian government has teamed up with the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA), which represents 200,000 farmers, to lobby the United States and Europe next week over agricultural provisions in the Uruguay Round of GATT talks. Canada does not plan to support the controversial Blair House farm accord, negotiated last November between the U.S. and EC, saying the agreement does not go far enough in reducing grain subsidies. Sources: "European Firms Seek Separate Aerospace Trade Pact," REUTER, September 28, 1993; P. Betts, D. Buchan, "U.S. Accused of 'Foul Play' in GATT," FINANCIAL TIMES, September 29, 1993; B. Coleman, "Airbus Industrie Suggests U.S. Move May Violate GATT," WALL STREET JOURNAL, October 1, 1993; K. M. Rockwell, "Hopes Snag for a Textile Deal in the Uruguay Round," JOURNAL OF COMMERCE, September 27, 1993; Francois Raitberger, "France Enlists French- Speaking States on GATT," REUTER, September 30, 1993; D. Buchan, "Actors' Plea to Defend Europe's Cultural Identity," FINANCIAL TIMES, September 29, 1993; P. Morton, "Ottawa Nixes Farm Package," FINANCIAL POST, September 29, 1993. ___________________________________________________________ Recent Publications on International Trade ___________________________________________________________ For copies of the following, contact the authors or organizations listed. "Earth Summit Briefings," THIRD WORLD NETWORK, 1992. 84 pages. 87, Cantonment Road, 10250 Penang, Malaysia. 6-04-373511. Fax: 6- 04-368106. Contact publisher for price information. "International Taxation: Taxes of Foreign - and U.S. - Controlled Corporations," GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE, June 1993. 15 pages. P.O. Box 6015, Gaithersburg, MD 20884-6015. (202) 512-6000. Fax: (301) 258-4066. Free. This study concludes that more than 40 percent of corporations doing business in the U.S. with assets of $250 million or more either paid no income taxes or paid income taxes of less than $100,000. "Eroding National Sovereignty: The Threat to National Defense," NATIONAL DEFENSE COUNCIL FOUNDATION, September 1993. 10 pages. Citizens Trade Campaign, 600 Maryland Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20024. (202) 554-1102. Fax: (202) 554-1654. Free. The authors argue that the threat to national sovereignty lies in the abrogation of U.S. state and federal laws through ad hoc "Dispute Resolution Panels" created by NAFTA and GATT. "The Bias Against Agriculture: Trade and Macroeconomic Policies in Developing Countries," Romeo M. Bautista and Alberto Valdes, eds., INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH, 1993. 339 pages. ICS Press, 243 Kearny Press, San Francisco, CA 94108. (415) 981- 5353. Fax: (415) 986-4878. $24.95. "Environment and Development From a Humanist Perspective," WORLD STATES GENERAL PREPARATORY CONVENTION, September 1993. 40 pages. Groupe de Vezelay, rue Bonnette, F 89450 Vezeley. Fax: (33) 86 33 24 63. Contact organization for prices. "Health and Environment: The Issue Is Health," COALITION FOR JUSTICE IN THE MAQUILADORAS, October 1993. 3120 W. Ashby, San Antonio, TX 78228. (210) 732-8957. $6.50. "North American Free Trade Agreement for Agriculture," FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL SERVICE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, August 1993. NAFTA Materials, USDA-FAS Information, Room 5920- S, Washington, DC 20250-1000. (202) 720-7937. Free. This resource is a compilation of studies and fact sheets distributed by the Foreign Agricultural Service to promote the agriculture component of the NAFTA. "Civilians at Risk: Military and Police Abuses in the Mexican Countryside," Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, WORLD POLICY INSTITUTE, August 1993. 38 pages. 65 Fifth Ave. Suite 413, New York NY 10003. (212) 229-5808. Fax: (212) 229-5579. $5. "Intellectual Piracy and the Neem Patents," Dr. Vandana Shiva, RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND NATURAL RESOURCE POLICY, 1993. A-60 Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India. (091) 11-685-1651. Same fax number. Contact organization for prices. ___________________________________________________________ Editors: Gigi DiGiacomo, Chirag Mehta and Kai Mander 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 ___________________________________________________________