[Ip-health] Senate Finance to Take Up U.S. Trade Negotiator Nominee

[Sarah Rimmington]

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=3Dnews-000003059321
CQPolitics
Feb. 24, 2009
Senate Finance to Take Up U.S. Trade Negotiator Nominee
By Joseph J. Schatz, CQ Staff

President Obama=92s nominee for chief U.S. trade negotiator could get a
hearing before the Senate Finance Committee next week, as free-traders
anxiously await more news on the new administration=92s trade strategy
amid a global recession.

Obama in December named Ron Kirk, a Texas lawyer and lobbyist and former
mayor of Dallas, as his choice for U.S. trade representative. But the
Finance Committee, busy for the last month crafting the economic
stimulus package (PL 111-5) enacted last week, has yet to act on the
nomination.

Chairman Max Baucus , D-Mont., said Tuesday that he is not aware of any
problems in Kirk=92s vetting process, and expects his panel will hold a
nomination hearing for Kirk next week.

A former top aide to former Texas Democratic senator and Treasury
Secretary Lloyd Bentsen (1971-1993), Kirk ran for the Senate in 2002,
hoping to succeed Texas Republican Phil Gramm (1985-2002), but was
defeated by current GOP Sen. John Cornyn , R-Texas.

Kirk was Texas secretary of state in 1994, before becoming the mayor of
Dallas, and currently practices public finance and policy law at
powerhouse Dallas lobbying shop Vinson and Elkins LLP.

While his nomination has been applauded by the business community,
Kirk=92s record on international trade issues is fairly thin.

The absence of a trade negotiating team comes as business groups urge
the Obama administration to re-energize global trade talks =97 and as talk
of trade barriers increases at home and abroad amid a deepening recession.

During the 2008 campaign, Obama criticized the North American Free Trade
Agreement and China=92s trade practices, and said new trade agreements
must protect U.S. workers. Since taking office, however, he has walked a
finer line in the trade issues that have arisen.

For instance, when lawmakers proposed language in the economic stimulus
package ensuring that stimulus-funded projects used U.S.-produced iron
and steel =97 provoking an outcry from Europe and Canada =97 Obama
successfully had the language watered down to comply with World Trade
Organization regulations.

But in his first trip to Canada last week, Obama said he wants to
re-open parts of NAFTA related to labor and environmental standards in a
way =93that is not disruptive to the extraordinarily important trade
relationships that exist between the United States and Canada.=94 His
host, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, however cautioned against
unraveling the agreement and said Canada expects the United States to
fulfill its trade obligations.

--
Sarah Rimmington
Attorney
Essential Action, Access to Medicines Project
Washington, DC
Tel: (202) 387-8030
Cell: (202) 422-2687
www.essentialaction.org/access/