FWD: Clinton, GOP Reach Trade Deal

[MDOLAN <mdolan@citizen.org>]

  ===== Original Message from GRA@SMTP {gra@inetport.com} at 10/08/97 6:55 am
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  >   ----------------------------------------------------------------------
  >
  >                      Clinton, GOP Reach Trade Deal
  >
  > (October 7, 3:51 pm)
  >
  > WASHINGTON (AP) - President Clinton reached a compromise on Tuesday
  > with House Republicans on legislation he needs to expand free trade
  > beyond Mexico, but he was having difficulty lining up Democratic
  > support.
  >
  > The deal, worked out in negotiations with House Ways and Means
  > Committee Chairman Bill Archer, represented another step in the
  > administration's uphill battle to gain approval of fast-track trade
  > negotiating authority.
  >
  > Labor unions have mounted an aggressive lobbying campaign to kill the
  > proposal, insisting that the North American Free Trade Agreement with
  > Mexico has been a disaster that has cost thousands of U.S. jobs by
  > encouraging American companies to move factories to Mexico to take
  > advantage of cheap labor and lax environmental regulations.
  >
  > The administration insisted on Tuesday that the compromise language
  > worked out in an all-night bargaining session with GOP committee
  > staffers would give Clinton the power he needs to ensure that any
  > future trade deals do not expose American workers to unfair
  > competition from developing nations.
  >
  > "We have reached an agreement that addresses key Democratic concerns
  > and retains the president's flexibility to meet trade, labor,
  > environmental and health and safety goals as part of the trade
  > agenda," said Jay Ziegler, a spokesman for U.S. Trade Representative
  > Charlene Barshefsky.
  >
  > In an effort to sell that view, Clinton scheduled a series of meetings
  > at the White House Tuesday with committee Democrats. The committee was
  > to vote on the proposal on Wednesday.
  >
  > Archer, R-Texas, had said the proposal needed to gain the support of
  > between five and seven of the 16 Democrats on his committee to have a
  > chance of passage in the full House.
  >
  > But it was unclear how many votes Clinton would be able to gain, even
  > with a personal appeal. One Democratic congressional source, speaking
  > on condition of anonymity, said the administration was trying to
  > convince wavering Democrats with an appeal not to vote against the
  > trade initiative only four days before the president is to leave on
  > his first official trip to South America.
  >
  > Sandy Berger, the president's national security adviser, told
  > reporters at the White House that the fast-track debate in Congress
  > should not be viewed with concern by the leaders of Venezuela, Brazil
  > and Argentina, the countries Clinton will visit next week.
  >
  > "They know the president is making a strong effort to get this," he
  > told reporters at the White House. "They know it is a difficult,
  > challenging debate."
  >
  > Ziegler said the compromise language worked out with Archer would be
  > similar to a compromise reached last week with the Senate Finance
  > Committee, which approved its version of the fast-track proposal on a
  > voice vote.
  >
  > Fast-track legislation is not a specific trade agreement, but the
  > authority the president needs to negotiate trade deals with various
  > countries and then take them to Congress for a quick up-or-down vote
  > without the possibility of amendments.
  >
  > Clinton needs fast-track authority to achieve a key goal of his second
  > term -- preparing the way for a hemisphere-wide free trade zone by
  > 2005. The administration is also committed to starting negotiations to
  > achieve free trade in the Pacific by 2010.
  >
  ===== Comments by MDOLAN@CITIZEN (MDOLAN) at 10/08/97 9:43 am
  
  
  
  ****************************************************************************
   /s/ Mike Dolan, Field Director, Global Trade Watch, Public Citizen
  
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