ECONOMY: Groups Demand U.S., Chile Release Details of Trade Deal

By Emad Mekay Reprint | | Print |

Emad Mekay

WASHINGTON, Dec 13 2002 (IPS) - Civil society groups are calling on the United States and Chile to reveal the text of a controversial trade agreement they reached two days ago.

The demand for transparency came in a statement by Earthjustice and Public Citizens, two U.S.-based groups that have been lobbying for greater public participation in the trade process.

The groups say that neither U.S. nor Chilean citizens were allowed to give meaningful input into the free trade agreement (FTA) because the process was conducted largely behind closed doors, but they say business lobbies have already seen the agreement.

U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert B. Zoellick announced Wednesday he had reached the deal with Chilean Foreign Minister Soledad Alvear. Both countries are expected to sign the pact and submit it to their respective legislatures for approval next year.

The groups say that representatives of industrial, agricultural, and banking interests were allowed full access to the process while ”citizens were kept out in the cold”.

Irked that their demands were ignored, the groups resorted to court action, filing a suit to last year obtain negotiating documents.

In the action, Earthjustice accused Zoellick of ”stonewalling public access to the U.S. negotiating position on the U.S.-Chile FTA”.

The organisation said it was acting on behalf of other groups, such as the Centre for International Environmental Law, Friends of the Earth and Public Citizen.

The groups now say they want to see documents provided to Chilean negotiators, including investment rules that would limit the ability of U.S. local and national governments to protect their own health standards and environmental laws.

”The U.S.-Chile trade agreement is yet another back-room deal…created behind closed doors by special interests who seem allergic to any public oversight or transparency," said Martin Wagner, director of the international programme at Earthjustice.

"These special interests, and the bureaucrats who did their bidding, fought tooth and nail against citizen demands for transparency in the process,” he added.

The groups say the result will be yet another set of international trade rules that favour corporations while undercutting the ability of national and state lawmakers to protect environmental and public health standards.

”This is international law created by corporations for corporations with the public cut out of the process," Wagner said.

Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, described withholding details of the agreement from the public as a ”shameless stunt”..

"After years of negotiating this agreement in secrecy, the USTR is trumpeting a done deal, but once again not giving anyone the text. U.S. and Chilean consumers, farmers, and workers are still in the dark, but they can be assured that bad process leads to bad results,” Wallach said.

The United States hopes that the deal with Chile, a small country that has won praise from international financial institutions for its economic liberalisation, would cuts tariff and opens markets for U.S. farmers, investors and companies, which will enjoy preferential access to the Chilean market.

Under the agreement, more than 85 percent of bilateral trade in consumer and industrial products becomes tariff-free immediately, with most remaining tariffs eliminated within four years.

Key U.S. export sectors that will benefit include agricultural and construction equipment, autos and auto parts, computers and other information technology products, medical equipment, and paper products.

U.S. officials say their companies currently operate at a significant competitive disadvantage in Chile, because competitors such as Canada, Mexico and the European Union all have free trade agreements with the South American country.

For example, a U.S.-made Caterpillar 140 Horsepower Motor Grader sold in Chile pays 13,090 dollars in tariffs. But the same tractor made in Canada pays zero tariffs, officials say.

Chile, on the other hand, says the deal will help attract more foreign investment to the country, expand its exports to the United States and foster growth.

But critics say previous trade pacts, like the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have kept less developed countries like Mexico at a disadvantage.

A survey released this week by the Woodrow Wilson Centre revealed that most citizens of the United States, Canada and Mexico had higher hopes for the NAFTA then what they believe the deal actually achieved.

One-half (48 percent) of U.S. respondents said that their country was a winner thanks to the agreement. Thirty-eight percent of Canadians and only 30 percent of Mexicans had the same assessment.

The polls were based on a randomly selected sample of 1,007 adult Canadians, 1,000 U.S. citizens and 503 Mexicans.

Although the United States has only four free trade partners: Canada and Mexico (within NAFTA), Israel and Jordan, the administration of President George W. Bush has been pursuing an aggressive free trade agenda.

In November, Zoellick announced he had concluded the substance of an FTA with Singapore.

The administration also plans to start negotiations with Morocco, Australia, five nations of Central America and the South African Customs Union (SACU) – South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland and Botswana.

U.S. officials also hope that the U.S.- Chile FTA, the first comprehensive trade agreement between the United States and a South American country, will encourage completion of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which will include 34 countries in the Western hemisphere, by 2005.

ECONOMY: Groups Demand U.S., Chile Release Details of Trade Deal

By Emad Mekay Reprint | | Print |

Emad Mekay

WASHINGTON, Dec 13 2002 (IPS) - Civil society groups are calling on the United States and Chile to reveal the text of a controversial trade agreement they reached two days ago.
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