TRADE NEWS BULLETIN Volume 2 Number 192 Wednesday, October 27, 1993 Headlines: OPINIONS VARY ON WHETHER CHRETIEN WILL SEEK NAFTA CHANGES LAWYERS CALL FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN GATT FRENCH COOPERATIVES MAY BE FORCED TO COMPROMISE JAPAN PROMISES TO OPEN CONSTRUCTION MARKET ________________________________________________________ NAFTA News Summary ________________________________________________________ OPINIONS VARY ON WHETHER CHRETIEN WILL SEEK NAFTA CHANGES The Liberal Party's landslide victory Monday may put less pressure on new Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement. "My sense is that given the scale of Chretien's win, he is going to be under less pressure" to seek renegotiations, said a U.S. official. The Liberal Party secured 178 seats in the 295-seat House of Commons. The former ruling party, the Progressive Conservatives, lost all but two of its 153 seats in the House. The NEW YORK TIMES suggested that a smaller victory could have prompted Chretien to seek the support of the anti-NAFTA New Democratic Party (NDP), which would have demanded changes to the trade pact. But the NDP lost 35 seats in the election and wound up with only eight. Canadian business leaders hinted that Chretien would encounter strong resistance to his proposed domestic economic reforms if changes were made to NAFTA. "The main constraints of the government's power are not going to come from a vigorous opposition," suggested Alasdair McKichan, president of the Retail Council of Canada. "They're going to be coming from the demands of Canada's international creditors." Michael Aho, senior international economic analyst at Prudential Securities, echoed McKichan's remarks. "Business will be sure to tell Jean that it's one thing to talk while campaigning and quite another to act when governing," Aho said. "Renegotiation is way too risky." Some U.S. lawmakers feel certain that Canadians will demand renegotiation of both NAFTA and the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. "The people of Canada sent a clear and powerful message yesterday -- this NAFTA won't work. It's fatally flawed, and it's time to go back to the drawing board," said Representative David Bonior (D-Michigan). Sources: Keith Bradsher, "U.S. Says Chretien Will Not Undo NAFTA," NEW YORK TIMES, October 27, 1993; Martin Crutsinger, "NAFTA," AP, October 27, 1993; Lyndsay Griffiths, "Canada Election Further Muddies NAFTA Fight," REUTER, October 27, 1993; Clyde H. Farnsworth, "Canadian With Mandate," NEW YORK TIMES, October 27, 1993; John Urquhart, "Canada's Newly Elected Liberal Party Is Backed by Nation's Business Groups," WALL STREET JOURNAL, October 27, 1993. ________________________________________________________ GATT News Summary ________________________________________________________ LAWYERS CALL FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN GATT Lawyers attending the annual World Jurists Association conference called on nations to include and enforce intellectual property rights under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. "GATT ought to be improved," said Israeli delegate Meir Gabay. "There ought to be sanctions upon countries who violate the intellectual property rights." Indian farmers are expected to protest Thursday when GATT Director-General Peter Sutherland visits New Delhi. Sutherland will reportedly meet with members of the Indian government in an attempt to persuade them to endorse the Dunkel Draft without amendments. Farmers argue that under the draft's intellectual property provisions, the Indian Patent Act of 1970 would not be protected nor would national agricultural programs created to ensure food security in Third World countries. Sources: "World Jurists Urge Copyright Abuse Sanctions," REUTER, October 27, 1993; "Farmers' Call to Boycott Sutherland," TWN PRESS RELEASE, October 27, 1993; "Indians Plan Protest Against GATT's Sutherland," October 27, 1993. ________________________________________________________ FRENCH COOPERATIVES MAY BE FORCED TO COMPROMISE French farm cooperatives say they may be forced to compromise on a GATT farm deal. "We have our backs against the wall," said Christian Duval, deputy director general of the Federation of Farm Cooperatives (FFCAT). "We are told we cannot have everything, so we're fixing our priorities. And we will try to manage like that." FFCAT, a 500- member cooperative, collects 70 percent of France's grain. Although FFCAT said it would accept a 21 percent cut in the volume of EC subsidized exports as negotiated in the Blair House, it demanded three changes: a softer interpretation of the Blair House minimum access clause, tighter controls on U.S. corn gluten feed, and a provision allowing the EC to export existing surplus stocks unrestricted by the global farm accord. Sources: Juliette Rouillon, "French Farmers Scale Down Resistance to GATT," REUTER, October 27, 1993; "French Farm Cooperatives Soften GATT Demands," REUTER, October 26, 1993. ________________________________________________________ Other Trade News ________________________________________________________ JAPAN PROMISES TO OPEN CONSTRUCTION MARKET The Japanese government yesterday announced plans to open its construction market to competitive bidding and vowed to enforce anti-monopoly laws currently in place. Although the Japanese government did not present a detailed plan, it promised to have something in place by January 20, 1994. The United States temporarily postponed implementing trade sanctions that were to go into effect Monday. "This move ... by the Japanese government is welcome; it is important; it is significant; it is historic," said U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor. Kenneth H. Fraelich, of AEG Westinghouse Transportation Systems Inc., said U.S. companies have been anxious to enter the Japanese market because "you look around the world and it's the one area where there's a lot of construction going on." Source: Keith Bradsher, "U.S. Cancels a Plan to Begin Sanctions After Japan Acts," NEW YORK TIMES, October 27, 1993. ________________________________________________________ Event: "Not This NAFTA," Friday, November 5, 10:00am - 1:00pm, Radisson Wilshire Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, CA. Free. Anti-NAFTA workshop sponsored by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and the AFL-CIO Region 6. To register contact: Carole Sickler, STOP NAFTA, P.O. Box 20630, Los Angeles, CA 90006. Tel: (213) 381-5611. ________________________________________________________ Editors: Gigi DiGiacomo 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 ________________________________________________________