Agence France Presse | October 17, 2003
The United States "will aggressively pursue regional and bilateral free-trade agreements" while continuing its engagement in World Trade Organization negotiations, US Commerce Secretary Donald Evans said Friday.
"America will continue to lead the WTO and Doha Round (of negotiations) ... but we are not going to wait for other countries that are reluctant to move as quickly as we want," Evans told reporters before meeting with Erkki Liikanen, the EU business commissioner.
"We are going to find a lot of countries ready to engage in free-trade agreements with us," he said.
The stalled WTO Doha Round suffered a major setback last month at a meeting in Cancun, Mexico, after a deadlock between rich and poor countries failed to put the talks back on track.
Evans said the administration of President George W. Bush is seeking free-trade agreements with other countries that will focus on American workers and job creation in the US.
"The president strongly believes opened trade is good for the world but his first responsability is American economic and national security," he said.Agence France Presse:
