[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 128 (Wednesday, September 17, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11635-S11636]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    COLLAPSE OF THE WTO MINISTERIAL

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about next steps for 
our trade agenda after last week's collapse of the World Trade 
Organization Ministerial in Cancun.
  Certainly, the WTO is not dead. In fact, this kind of setback is 
fairly common in its history. Sooner or later the negotiators pick up 
the pieces and get back to work. We must and we will continue to try to 
get the Doha round negotiations back on track. And eventually, I think 
we will succeed.
  But it probably won't happen soon.
  In the meantime, we need to learn from last week's events and adjust 
our national trade strategy accordingly. In my view, there are two 
important lessons to be learned.
  First, we can't count on a sweeping WTO agreement to be an engine of 
economic growth for our country any time soon. The President has made 
the stimulative effect of a strong WTO agreement a centerpiece of his 
plan for economic recovery and long-term growth. If we want to 
stimulate the economy through trade--and I certainly support that 
goal--then we need a new plan.
  Second, the administration needs to rethink its strategy for picking 
FTA partners. I have heard many times that we need FTA partners who 
will be allies in the WTO and help the United States move that process 
forward. Instead, many of the same countries who are negotiating FTAs 
with us joined the G-21 and helped deadlock the ministerial.
  So where do we go next?
  To begin, I don't think we should overreact. Punishing trading 
partners with whom we have differences of opinion is not likely to be 
productive in the long term.
  That doesn't mean they get a free pass. To the contrary, the onus is 
very much on Costa Rica, South Africa, Guatemala, and the others to 
take significant, constructive steps right now to show that they take 
their FTA negotiations seriously and are committed to comprehensive 
agreements with the United States. Where they have been holding back in 
FTA talks, they need to start putting more on the table. And if they 
don't, they should realize we have other countries to look to.
  At the same time, we need to think hard about how to use trade 
agreements to create economic alternatives to the WTO. American 
workers, farmers, and businesses have just suffered a

[[Page S11636]]

big setback. They will not see the economic benefits of the Doha round 
for a long time. We need to focus our negotiating resources on 
bilateral and regional deals that can provide real commercial 
opportunities in the short term. That means, in picking FTAs, we need 
to give less weight to foreign policy and more weight to economic 
policy.
  Access to the large and vibrant U.S. market remains our best leverage 
in opening markets around the world. We must continue to use that 
leverage well.
  I am disappointed in the outcome of Cancun. Like all disappointments, 
however, it offers lessons for the future. I hope we will learn those 
lessons and apply them to our trade agenda as we move forward.

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