-Caveat Lector- This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
U.S. to Seek to Abolish Many Tariffs November 26, 2002 By EDMUND L. ANDREWS WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 - The Bush administration, hoping to jump-start global trade negotiations, will propose a plan on Tuesday to eliminate all tariffs on industrial and consumer goods by 2015, officials said tonight. The plan, which will be submitted to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, would cover not only big industrial products like cars and machinery but also labor-intensive consumer goods like clothing, textiles and leather handbags that are still fairly heavily protected in the United States. Administration officials said their plan would "turn every corner store into a duty-free shop" and would eliminate about $18 billion in tariffs that American consumers pay each year. While the offer to open American markets is in many respects radical, it also plays to the United States' strengths and would require most other countries to cut their tariffs more drastically and more rapidly than the United States. Trade experts say the Bush administration may also be trying to regain credibility on free-trade issues, after giving into demands for protectionist measures from the steel industry and from American farmers earlier this year. The proposal is almost certain to run into objections from many countries in Latin America and Asia, which are likely to argue that their domestic industries would have to endure severe competitive jolts on the industrial side while still facing steep barriers to the American markets for agriculture. American tariffs on manufactured products average about 5 percent, lower than those in many developing countries, but they run as high as 20 percent for certain kinds of clothing, 16 percent for many kinds of luggage and 13 percent for some leather goods. The United States also imposes a wide variety of "anti-dumping" and "safeguard" tariffs on imported steel, which run well above 30 percent in some cases and are not expected to be affected by the new plan. "The strategy could be to get on the good side of the rhetorical fight," said Gary Hufbauer, a trade analyst at the Institute for International Economics, a research group in Washington. Scott Otteman, director of trade policy at the National Association of Manufacturers, expressed cautious support for the idea. Many manufacturing groups have lobbied in favor of negotiating for deep reciprocal tariff cuts in particular industrial sectors, but Mr. Otteman said the group is leery of relying only on across-the-board tariff reductions. The new proposals will be announced on Tuesday by the United States trade representative, Robert B. Zoellick, and the secretary of commerce, Donald Evans. They are being submitted as part of the global trade talks that were started last year in Doha, Qatar. American officials hope to inject some electricity into the talks, which have lost considerable momentum over the last year in large part because both the United States and the European Union have been backsliding toward greater protectionism. The Bush administration infuriated governments around the world by imposing new "safeguard" tariffs on imported steel last March. Attitudes toward free trade soured even more after Congress passed and President Bush signed a sweeping farm bill that could provide up to $180 billion in farm subsidies over the next six or eight years. Under the plan, any tariff that is 5 percent or lower would be eliminated in 2005, the year that countries hope to adopt a new global trade agreement. Other, higher tariffs would then be "harmonized" and reduced to no more than 8 percent by 2010. The most difficult tariff issues would be dealt with by 2015. The European Union has submitted a somewhat more modest proposal, which calls for cutting the highest tariffs on manufactured goods rather than eliminating all tariffs. The biggest objections are likely to be about the "harmonization" period, because countries with high tariffs would be required to push through the biggest reductions and suffer far more disruption than those with lower tariffs. The White House came up with a similar plan last summer to reduce agricultural tariffs and subsidies. That plan called for reducing tariffs from an average of 62 percent to 15 percent over five years. But the plan calls for the deepest tariff cuts by countries with the highest duties, and it has been greeted coldly by the European Union. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/26/business/worldbusiness/26TRAD.html?ex=1039301003&ei=1&en=2564cdba0ede062c HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
