U.S. doing little to lead; trade policy not priority

　　While China's economic growth and increasing domination of the Asian market worries U.S. companies, the Obama administration is unlikely to upset union backers — who help move initiatives like health care to Congress — and move forward with a trade liberalizing measure, said Grant Aldonas, a former international economic policy adviser to the Bush Administration.

Aldonas and three industry experts from the United States weighed in yesterday in a videoconference with Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) Vice Minister Francis Liang and other officials at the Office of Trade Negotiations. Sherman E. Katz, Senior Advisor of the Center for the Study of Presidency and Congress (CSPC) facilitated the conference.

The details of U.S. trade agenda and foreign policy towards the Asian market was requested in light of the push by Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) members for regional economic integration with proposals such as the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).

However, Josh Kurlantzik, Council on Foreign Relations Fellow for Southeast Asia, said that the financial crisis has made trade an unpopular topic in the United States. Opposition to free trade agreements has grown considerably in the past three years, according to Larry Niksch, a specialist in Asian Affairs of the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress. The situation is likely to remain that way unless the U.S. economy substantially improves, Niksch added.

The reported US$800 billion debt the United States owes China has shifted the power dynamic between the two countries — to that of debtor and creditor. U.S. President Barack Obama's much-talked-about trip to Beijing in November came under criticism as the experts concurred that it resulted in no changes regarding China's currency issue, its stance towards Iranian nuclear proliferation and human rights.

Although Obama's speech during his trip to Tokyo implied assurance that China's growth would not come at the expense of its neighbors, Kurlantzik said Obama did not offer any specifics and has not laid out what he meant.

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