RP misses chance to forge free trade agreement with US

WASHINGTON — The Philippines has "missed the train" on the possibility of concluding a free trade agreement with the United States, US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said.

Asked by The STAR when RP-US negotiations on an FTA might be held  she said, "I don’t know the answer to that. It is really an issue that will follow a new trade promotion authority allocation."

She reiterated an observation she made at a news conference on Monday that "the train (has) left the station" for those countries not currently negotiating a free trade agreement with the US.

Briefing Washington-based Asian reporters on next week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, Schwab said talks would "range from multilateral and Doha to regional and APEC to bilateral in terms of FTA negotiations that are going on."

Schwab said she expected talks in Hanoi to focus on how to resuscitate Doha, which collapsed in July over key issues including tariff barriers and farm subsidies. She was referring to the Doha Round negotiations, which aimed to lower world trade barriers and permit free trade between rich and poor countries.

"The focus that we have right now in terms of negotiating FTAs are those free trade agreements that are currently under negotiation that can be accomplished within this trade promotion authority. And that is why, you know, at some point the train left the station," she said.

Under the Trade Promotion Authority or TPA, which was legislated in 2002, international trade agreements are subjected to an up-or-down vote but not to an amendment in Congress.

TPA expires on July 1, 2007 and there is no guarantee of its extension, especially with the Democrats now in control of Congress, unless the Doha Round negotiations are restarted and a breakthrough is made, US officials said. 

Schwab said Malaysia and South Korea have an opportunity to finalize FTAs with the US to take advantage of the current trade promotion authority.

"For Korea or for Malaysia to have unlimited access to the US market when other countries don’t is a real competitive advantage," she said.

TPA encourages investment and promotes freer trade by giving other countries confidence that the agreements they have negotiated with the United States will not be renegotiated in the future, the officials added.

Schwab said in addition to bilateral FTAs the US was also interested in an APEC-wide free trade agreement.

"It’s sort of a no-brainer; it’s sort of a logical step over time for the countries of APEC," she said, adding that the Asia Pacific region accounted for $1.6 trillion in US trade, or close to two-thirds of America’s global trade.

"Why talk about an Asia Pacific-wide trade agreement? I think the answer is just look at the trade flows and look at the trade investment flows among the countries represented in the Asia Pacific region," she said.

APEC’s member countries, aside from the US and the Philippines, are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Schwab said she did not expect the APEC meeting to do wonders for the failed Doha Round, but it might lay the groundwork "so we can restart the Doha Round negotiations."

"Are we talking about the expectation of a major public breakthrough of some sort? No, it’s too early," she said.