International Trade Daily | November 16, 2001
BRUSSELS--The agreement reached to launch a World Trade Organization trade round will likely be wasted if the Congress does not give the Bush administration fast-track trade authority in the months ahead, the European Commission's top trade official said Nov. 15.
Speaking at a press conference upon returning from Doha, Qatar, Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy told journalists that the success of the ensuing negotiations in the new round hinged on a vote in the Congress that the chief of the U.S. delegation to Doha promised to deliver.
"If the U.S. Congress does not give approval fairly quickly for fast-track then no one will negotiate," Lamy said. "Genuinely useful negotiations will simply not take place if the U.S. does not have the support of the U.S. Congress on the fast track issue."
Lamy also made it clear that getting approval in Congress for fast-track authority for the Bush administration was a promise made by U.S.Trade Representative Robert Zoellick.
"The U.S. delegation made commitments along these lines in Doha," Lamy said. "We expect the U.S. delegation to deliver."
Lamy said the EU had achieved virtually all of its targets it established before the start of the Doha ministerial meeting except on social issues such as labor standards, where he said India intervened at the last minute.
But he said that achievement could be wasted if fast-track approval for President Bush is rejected.
"Every other country will simply stand aside because there will be little incentive to reach concessions and an agreement that could take years if not longer to gain approval because it would have to be voted on measure by measure," said Lamy.
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