U.S. eyeing FTA deals if WTO fails

Speaking ahead of an APEC trade ministers’ meeting in Australia next week, U.S. Trade Representative Schwab said there was scope for bilateral and regional deals if the WTO’s troubled Doha Round of negotiations finally collapsed.

Schwab told The Australian newspaper that Washington was hopeful the Doha talks could be successfully completed but made it clear other options were being considered in the event they failed.

“You look at what’s going on in the Asia-Pacific — there’s so much promise, it’s so exciting and so how do you make sure you sustain that and how do you make sure it grows rather than turning in on itself,” she said.

“I think you will see a real acceleration of bilateral and regional deals including something like a free trade agreement of the Asia-Pacific if the Doha round really disappears from the scene.”

Schwab said Washington could look at “knitting together” the various bilateral trade agreements throughout the Asia-Pacific region into a single deal.

“One of the big questions with the proliferation of bilateral and regional agreements is this: is there an inclination — and if so what would it take — to knit together multiple free trade agreements?,” she said.

“Because all of us have multiple free trade agreements. That is another issue — we would talk about it.”

Schwab said it was also possible Australia could join the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), even though Canberra and Washington already have a bilateral free trade deal that came into force in January 2005.

The Doha talks remain stalled over agricultural subsidies and trade tariffs following the acrimonious collapse of talks in Germany earlier this month between so-called “G-4” — the European Union, United States, Brazil and India.

Meanwhile, the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) given to U.S. President George W. Bush’s administration to fast-track trade deals is due to expire June 30, with a Democrat-controlled Congress skeptical about the benefits of free trade.

The expiry of the fast-track would severely curb Schwab’s ability to negotiate free trade agreements.

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