THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION: FUTURE NEGOTIATIONS (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
July 30, 1999 |
| Report Number |
RL30270 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Arlene Wilson, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
The World Trade Organization's (WTO) Ministerial Conference, to be held in Seattle from
November 30 to December 3, 1999, will launch a new round of trade negotiations. President
Clinton, in his State of the Union Address on January 19, 1999, called for an ambitious round
focusing on agriculture, services, industrial tariffs, intellectual property, and government
procurement. He also proposed that negotiations should result in early agreements, and should be
concluded in far less time than the seven years that the Uruguay Round took.
The United States and the other WTO countries are beginning the process of developing goals
and procedures for the negotiations. If negotiations lead to multilateral agreements that require
changes in U.S. law, legislation will be needed for implementation. Foreign countries are often
unwilling to negotiate unless the President has fast-track authority (which he currently does not
have). Should the Congress decide to act on fast-track legislation, it can influence the negotiations
through specifying the negotiating objectives, and by consulting with the Administration before and
during the negotiations. A likely issue in any debate is the extent that labor and environmental
questions are addressed.
As of July 1999, the scope of future negotiations is still to be decided. All that is known for
certain is that negotiations will include agriculture and services since the Uruguay Round Agreement
clearly specified that negotiations on these issues must begin by the year 2000. Agriculture and
services are seen by many policymakers as important because of remaining trade barriers; only a
relatively small amount of trade liberalization occurred in the Uruguay Round. Moreover,
agriculture and services trade is very important to the U.S. economy. For example, in 1997, about
20% of the value of U.S. agricultural production was exported, and the United States is the largest
exporter and second largest importer of services.
WTO working groups are studying the relationship between trade and investment and between
trade and competition policy. Countries disagree considerably on whether or not these issues are
ripe for negotiation and on the possible benefits of negotiations. The European Union supports, and
the United States opposes, beginning negotiations on these issues. Developing countries generally
oppose WTO discussions on foreign direct investment rules and competition policy.
Including labor and environmental issues in trade agreements is highly controversial, both
within the United States and among the WTO members. For example, environmentalists and labor
unions argue that labor and environmental standards should be a negotiating goal for humanitarian
and environmental protection reasons. Many economists and the business community maintain that
a more effective way to increase standards abroad is through trade liberalization and increased
economic growth abroad. The Administration supports discussions of environment and labor in the
WTO, while the Congress is divided on the issue. Some other industrial countries support WTO
discussions, while the developing countries are strongly opposed.
