[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 131 (Tuesday, November 16, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11357-S11358]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           FREE TRADE AGREEMENT WITH THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the attached 
correspondence from the Executive Office of the President be printed in 
today's Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

         Executive Office of the President, the United States 
           Trade Representative,
                                Washington, DC, November 15, 2004.
     Hon. Ted Stevens,
     President Pro Tempore, U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator Stevens: In accordance with section 2104(a)(1) 
     of the Trade Act of 2002 (the Trade Act), and pursuant to 
     authority delegated to me by the President, I am pleased to 
     notify the Congress that the President intends to initiate 
     negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United 
     Arab Emirates (UAE). We expect these negotiations to get 
     underway in the beginning of 2005, and we will be consulting 
     closely with the Congress over the next 90 days, as required 
     by the Trade Act.
       An FTA with the UAE will promote the President's initiative 
     to advance economic reforms and openness in the Middle East 
     and the Persian Gulf, moving us closer to the creation of a 
     Middle East Free Trade Area. A U.S.-UAE agreement will build 
     on the FTAs that we already have with Israel, Jordan, and 
     Morocco, as well as the FTA that we recently have signed with 
     Bahrain, and will encourage the six members of the Gulf 
     Cooperation Council (GCC) to adopt standards that promote 
     trade and investment. In 2003, the UAE had $4.6 billion in 
     two-way trade with the United States, and the United States 
     had a $2.4 billion trade surplus with the UAE. The UAE is an 
     important strategic partner on a broad array of foreign and 
     national security issues.
       This FTA will directly benefit the United States. By 
     reducing and eliminating barriers to trade, a comprehensive 
     FTA with the UAE will generate export opportunities for U.S. 
     companies, farmers, and ranchers, help create jobs in the 
     United States, and help American consumers save money while 
     offering them more choices. The UAE already provides an 
     attractive market for U.S. products, and is a regional 
     transportation and business hub in the Gulf and the Middle 
     East. The UAE's Jebel Ali port is the third busiest port in 
     the world, with excellent growth opportunities. In 2003, U.S. 
     businesses exported $3.5 billion worth of products in such 
     areas as machinery, aircraft, vehicles, electrical machinery, 
     and optical and medical instruments. Agriculture exports from 
     the United States totaled $259 million during the same 
     period. The United States' trade relationship with the UAE is 
     the third largest in the Middle East, behind only Israel and 
     Saudi Arabia.
       An FTA will provide new export opportunities for U.S. 
     services firms in sectors such as telecommunications, 
     finance, distribution, energy, construction, engineering, 
     health care, legal services, accounting, tourism and travel, 
     and environmental services. An FTA will also support the 
     UAE's commitment to transparency, openness, and the rule of 
     law, thereby enhancing respect for intellectual property, 
     labor rights, and environmental protection. An FTA will also 
     allow the United States to work more closely with UAE customs 
     and port authorities that manage Jebel Ali and other 
     transshipment points, an important opportunity for 
     cooperation similar to that provided by our FTA with 
     Singapore and the agreement we are negotiating with 
     Panama.
       Last year, the UAE entered into a Trade and Investment 
     Framework Agreement (TIFA) with the United States. Since 
     signing the TIFA, the UAE has demonstrated a serious 
     commitment to free trade. It has become a party to the World 
     Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty, 
     and has pledged to join the Information Technology Agreement 
     (ITA) and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.
       Our initial consultations with the Congress, including with 
     the Congressional Oversight Group on September 8, 2004, 
     indicate broad bipartisan interest in an FTA with the UAE. 
     Following these consultations, I visited the UAE to discuss 
     with top officials the topics covered in our comprehensive 
     FTAs, to identify particular areas for work, and to assess 
     the UAE's commitment to moving forward with an FTA. I came 
     back with a strong sense of the UAE's interest in connecting 
     the FTA to their plans for development, growth and openness. 
     The UAE interest in an FTA also complements The 9/11 
     Commission Report recommendation urging the United States to 
     expand trade with the Middle East as a way to ``encourage 
     development, more open societies, and opportunities for 
     people to improve the lives of their families.''
       Through our FTAs in the Middle East, the United States is 
     supporting moderate Islamic countries led by modernizers who 
     are promoting openness and economic growth. Supporting 
     countries such as the UAE as they expand their trading and 
     investment relationships with the United States is a concrete 
     and mutually beneficial way for the American people to 
     enhance opportunity and hope in this critical region.
       The Administration will continue to work closely with the 
     Congress, including through the consultation, notification, 
     and reporting procedures in the Trade Act. Moreover, to 
     ensure that interested stakeholders are informed and have 
     ample opportunity to provide their views, the Administration 
     will conduct the negotiations in a transparent and accessible 
     manner.
       The specific objectives for negotiations with the UAE are 
     as follows:


                             trade in goods

       Seek to eliminate tariffs and other duties and charges on 
     trade between the UAE and

[[Page S11358]]

     the United States on the broadest possible basis, subject to 
     reasonable adjustment periods for import-sensitive products.
       Seek to eliminate the UAE's non-tariff barriers to U.S. 
     exports.
       Pursue fully reciprocal access to the UAE's market for U.S. 
     textile and apparel products.


     Customs Matters, Rules of Origin, and Enforcement Cooperation

       Seek rules to require that the UAE's customs operations are 
     conducted with transparency, efficiency, and predictability, 
     and that customs laws, regulations, decisions, and rulings 
     are not applied in a manner that would create unwarranted 
     procedural obstacles to international trade.
       Seek rules of origin, procedures for applying these rules, 
     and provisions to address circumvention matters that will 
     ensure that preferential duty rates under an FTA with the UAE 
     apply only to goods eligible to receive such treatment, 
     without creating unnecessary obstacles to trade.
       Seek terms for cooperative efforts with the UAE regarding 
     enforcement of customs and related issues, including trade in 
     textiles and apparel.


               Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures

       Seek to have the UAE affirm its WTO commitments on SPS 
     measures and eliminate any unjustified SPS restrictions.
       Seek to ensure that the UAE's policies regarding 
     agricultural biotechnology products and food safety standards 
     are science-based and do not create unjustifiable barriers to 
     trade.
       Seek to strengthen collaboration with the UAE on 
     implementing the WTO SPS Agreement and to enhance cooperation 
     with the UAE in relevant international bodies on developing 
     international SPS standards, guidelines, and recommendations.


                   Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)

       Seek to have the UAE reaffirm its WTO TBT commitments, 
     including those relating to labeling requirements on U.S. 
     food and agricultural products produced through 
     biotechnology, and help ensure that the UAE's technical 
     regulations, standards, and conformity assessment procedures 
     do not serve as an unnecessary impediment to trade.
       Seek to strengthen collaboration with the UAE on 
     implementation of the WTO TBT Agreement, enhance regulatory 
     transparency, and create a procedure for exchanging 
     information with the UAE on TBT-related issues.


                      Intellectual Property Rights

       Seek to establish standards to be applied in the UAE that 
     build on the foundations established in the WTO Agreement on 
     Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS 
     Agreement) and other international intellectual property 
     agreements, such as the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO 
     Performances and Phonograms Treaty.
       Seek to have the UAE apply levels of protection and 
     practices in line with U.S. law and practices, including 
     appropriate flexibility, in areas such as trademark, 
     copyright, patent, and data protection and enforcement of 
     intellectual property rights.
       Seek to strengthen the UAE's procedures to enforce 
     intellectual property rights, such as by ensuring that the 
     UAE authorities seize suspected pirated and counterfeit 
     goods, and related equipment and documentary evidence.
       Seek to strengthen measures in the UAE that provide for 
     compensation of right holders for infringements of 
     intellectual property rights and to have the UAE provide for 
     criminal penalties to deter piracy and counterfeiting.


                           Trade in Services

       Pursue disciplines to address discriminatory and other 
     barriers to trade in the UAE's services market, and pursue a 
     comprehensive approach to market access, including any 
     necessary improvements in access to the financial services, 
     telecommunications, and distribution sectors, while 
     permitting each government to address domestic sensitivities.
       Seek improved transparency and predictability of the UAE's 
     regulatory procedures, and seek specialized disciplines for 
     financial services and additional disciplines for 
     telecommunication services and other sectors, as necessary.
       In parallel with the FTA negotiations, work with the UAE in 
     its efforts to make commitments in the WTO on access to its 
     market for basic telecommunications services.


                               Investment

       Seek to establish rules that reduce or eliminate artificial 
     or trade-distorting barriers to U.S. investment in the UAE, 
     while ensuring that UAE investors in the United States are 
     not accorded greater substantive rights with respect to 
     investment protections than U.S. investors in the United 
     States, and to secure for U.S. investors in the UAE important 
     rights comparable to those that would be available under U.S. 
     legal principles and practice.
       Seek to ensure that U.S. investors receive treatment as 
     favorable as that accorded to domestic or other foreign 
     investors in the UAE and to address unjustified barriers to 
     the establishment and operation of U.S. investments in the 
     UAE.
       Provide procedures to resolve disputes between U.S. 
     investors and the UAE that are in keeping with the trade 
     promotion authority goals of being expeditious, fair, and 
     transparent.


                          Electronic Commerce

       Seek to affirm that the UAE will allow products and 
     services to be delivered electronically and will not 
     unjustifiably discriminate among those products and services.
       Seek to affirm that the UAE does not apply customs duties 
     on digital products that are delivered electronically.
       Seek to ensure that the UAE determines the dutiable value 
     of digital products contained in carrier media based on the 
     value of the media, not their content.


                         Government Procurement

       Seek to establish rules requiring government procurement 
     procedures and practices in the UAE to be fair, transparent, 
     and predictable for suppliers of U.S. goods and services who 
     seek to do business with the UAE.
       Seek to expand access for U.S. goods and services to the 
     UAE's government procurement market.


             transparency/anti-corruption/regulatory reform

       Seek to make the UAE's administration of its trade regime 
     more transparent, and pursue rules that will permit timely 
     and meaningful public comment before the UAE adopts trade-
     related regulations and other measures.
       Seek to ensure that the UAE applies high standards 
     prohibiting corrupt practices affecting international trade 
     and investment and enforces such prohibitions.


                             trade remedies

       Provide an appropriate bilateral safeguard mechanism, if 
     necessary.
       Make no changes in U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty 
     laws.


                              environment

       Seek to promote trade and environment policies that are 
     mutually supportive.
       Seek an appropriate commitment by the UAE for the effective 
     enforcement of its environmental laws.
       Establish that the UAE will strive to ensure that it will 
     not, as an encouragement for trade or investment, weaken or 
     reduce the protections provided for in its environmental 
     laws.
       Help the UAE strengthen its capacity to protect the 
     environment through the promotion of sustainable development, 
     such as by establishing consultative mechanisms.


                      labor, including child labor

       The UAE needs to independently take significant further 
     steps to address concerns we have raised regarding protection 
     of worker rights. Within the text of the FTA, we will:
       Seek an appropriate commitment by the UAE to effectively 
     enforce its labor laws.
       Establish that the UAE will strive to ensure that it will 
     not, as an encouragement for trade or investment, weaken or 
     reduce the protections provided for in its labor laws.
       Establish procedures for consultations and cooperative 
     activities with the UAE to strengthen its capacity to promote 
     respect for core labor standards, including compliance with 
     ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor.


                   state-to-state dispute settlement

       Encourage the early identification and settlement of 
     disputes through consultation.
       Seek to establish fair, transparent, timely, and effective 
     procedures to settle disputes arising under the agreement. In 
     addition, the FTA will incorporate other U.S. objectives such 
     as the protection of legitimate health, safety, environment, 
     essential security, and consumer interests.
       The Administration is committed to concluding these 
     negotiations with timely and substantive results for U.S. 
     workers, farmers, ranchers, businesses, and families. We look 
     forward to continued close consultations with Congress as 
     negotiations begin and to pursuing the specific, overall, and 
     principal U.S. negotiating objectives set out in the Trade 
     Act. Working together, we will achieve an FTA that benefits 
     the United States and the UAE, and that advances America's 
     broader goals.
           Sincerely,
     Robert B. Zoellick.

                          ____________________