TRADE NEWS BULLETIN Volume 2 Number 222 Tuesday, December 14, 1993 Headlines: AUDIO-VISUAL RULES NOW CENTER OF GATT TALKS TEXTILE, APPAREL INDUSTRY SAYS GATT THREATENS JOBS GATT SAYS 117 COUNTRIES NOW PARTICIPATING IN ROUND NAFTA RAISES FEARS OF MEXICO'S UNIONS ________________________________________________________ GATT News Summary ________________________________________________________ AUDIO-VISUAL RULES NOW CENTER OF GATT TALKS Following Japan's announcement Monday that it would accept foreign rice imports, coupled with the apparent settlement of anti-dumping rules, many GATT diplomats now believe completion of the Uruguay Round hinges on the audio-visual sector. But EU foreign ministers rejected a U.S. offer intended to gain access to Europe's television and film markets, and instructed EU Trade Commissioner Leon Brittan to resume talks with U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor in Geneva. Brittan suggested that movies, recorded music and other forms of entertainment should be excluded from an accord "if the community's position is not acceptable in all its aspects to its trading partners." U.S. officials have long refused to omit audio-visual trade from GATT, saying failure to reach a deal could break the entire Uruguay Round. But news reports today indicate the U.S. has agreed to drop the issue from an accord. Most GATT insiders doubted the U.S. would prevent an overall deal because of the audio-visual sector. "In the end, the overall picture of what has been achieved should prevail," said British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd. "It would be bizarre if the Uruguay Round failed now because of film tickets and cassettes." The U.S. audio-visual proposal included calls for U.S. programs not to be restricted from prime-time viewing; for Europe's broadcast directive not to apply to new technologies; for Europe's royalties on blank tapes to be payable to American as well as European artists, but spent in Europe; and for no restrictions on video-on-request channels. One GATT official said countries had reached agreement on almost 97 percent of the Uruguay Round text. "We have achieved an extraordinary series of agreements in a very short period of time," said Peter Sutherland, director-general of GATT. European foreign ministers will meet again Wednesday to make a final decision on the Uruguay Round. GATT negotiators seem confident that they'll reach a conclusion to the Uruguay Round by midnight tomorrow, when fast-track negotiating authority expires in the U.S. Congress. In fact, printing of a final text began Monday night. An official said 400-450 pages would be ready by today. Sources: David Gardner, David Dodwell, "GATT Deal May Hinge on U.S. Demands in Audio-Visual Sector," FINANCIAL TIMES, December 14, 1993; Roger Cohen, "With Time Waning, Europeans Reject U.S. Movie Compromise," NEW YORK TIMES, December 14, 1993. ________________________________________________________ TEXTILE, APPAREL INDUSTRY SAYS GATT THREATENS JOBS U.S. textile and apparel officials said Monday they would oppose a GATT agreement because it could severely damage their industry. "They have literally traded this industry away," said Roy Bowen, executive director of the Georgia Textile Manufacturers Association. "And we don't know for what, except to placate India, Pakistan and the developing countries." Less than a month ago, in the thick of the NAFTA battle, President Clinton promised lawmakers from textile-producing states that he would push for a 15-year phase-out of the Multi-Fiber Arrangement. Now the U.S. has agreed to a 10-year phase-out of the quotas that have protected U.S. producers from dumping and from cheaper imports from the Third World. Industry economists say the change will cost U.S. jobs. "They are putting about two million textile and apparel jobs in the United States at risk," said William Farley, chief executive of Farley Inc., who is planning to run full-page newspaper ads that read: "GATT Crisis: Two million U.S. jobs hang in the balance." Ron Blackwell of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union accused GATT negotiators of "putting a premium on the exploitation of workers all over the world." Sources: "GATT Threatens Ga. Textile Jobs, Industry Says," ATLANTA JOURNAL, December 14, 1993; Bob Davis, Asra Q. Nomani, "Officials Closer to Completing a Trade Accord," WALL STREET JOURNAL, December 14, 1993. ________________________________________________________ GATT SAYS 117 COUNTRIES NOW PARTICIPATING IN ROUND A report from the GATT secretariat today says there are now 117 countries participating in the Uruguay Round negotiations. In the past two days, Bahrain and Brunei have been admitted to the global trade body, bringing its membership to 114. China, Algeria and Paraguay are taking part in the Round, but they are not yet members of GATT. Source: "GATT Reports 117 Countries Now in Trade Round," REUTER, December 14, 1993. ________________________________________________________ NAFTA News Summary ________________________________________________________ NAFTA RAISES FEARS OF MEXICO'S UNIONS According to an article in today's NEW YORK TIMES, under the presidency of Carlos Salinas de Gortari Mexican labor unions have become weaker than they have been for half a century. As a result, U.S. and Mexican officials say organized labor in Mexico is poorly positioned to help ease the likely dislocation of workers under NAFTA. Many Mexican businesses suffer from increased competition or get tougher on workers to increase productivity. As an example of the weakness of organized labor in Mexico, the TIMES cites the case of three Mexicans working at a General Electric factory in Ciudad Juarez who were abruptly fired less than a week after NAFTA was passed by the U.S. Congress. The men say they were fired for attempting to organize a union independent of the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). In testimony before the U.S. Congress this year, Pharis Harvey, executive director of the International Labor Rights Education and Research Fund, described organized labor in Mexico as "sterile unions without power to represent workers." One result of the government's control of unions, Harvey said, was a deterioration of health and safety standards that left Mexico with the third highest rate of industrial accidents in the world. Source: Anthony DePalma, "Mexico's Unions, Frail Now, Face Trade Pact Blows," NEW YORK TIMES, December 14, 1993. ________________________________________________________ Editor: 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 ________________________________________________________