The White House

Hours before a negotiating deadline, U.S. market access for beef, telecommunications, and autos in Korea are among the key outstanding issues in the U.S.-Korea negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement, informed sources said today (March 30). In addition, the two sides are still at odds over the investment chapter of the potential FTA, they said. A White House spokesman said today that the negotiations for a bilateral FTA are "not going well." Separately, a spokesman for the Office of...

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) this afternoon (March 29) said that he was told in a leadership briefing on trade that the U.S.-Korea free trade agreement negotiations "were not going well." In a March 29 conference call with reporters, Peterson said it was important to get an agreement that would be good for agriculture. This does not just mean access for U.S. beef, but also rice, he said. Separately, President Bush and Korean President Roh Moo-hyun discussed the...

A coalition of U.S. manufacturing and technology groups today (March 6) publicly called for an administrative streamlining of export controls under the jurisdiction of the Commerce and State departments. The coalition recommended 19 administrative changes aimed at speeding up license approvals by increasing staff at State and by creating new types of licenses that would ease requirements for routine transactions. Mark Esper, executive vice president of the Aerospace Industries Association, said coalition members thought it was "particularly important" for State...

President Bush's pending announcement this week that he wants Congress to extend fast-track negotiating authority is not necessarily an indication of how much political effort he will put into the fight for passing this legislation, according to private-sector sources. The amount of time and energy Bush will put into seeking fast-track renewal will likely depend on whether the Doha round advances sufficiently before mid-year to make a final agreement likely, these sources said. Absent the perception of a moving Doha...

Peru's new ambassador to the United States, Felipe Ortiz De Zevallas, today said it is "obvious" that the Bush Administration is refusing to send to Congress the legislation implementing a free trade agreement with Peru for political reasons. The White House does not want the final implementing bill to create problems in next month's mid-term elections over trade because it needs to retain a Republican majority in the House, he told the Chamber of Commerce in an Oct. 17 speech...

The White House is poised to send to Congress this week final legislation implementing a free trade agreement with the Dominican Republic and five Central American countries, setting the stage for action in the House Ways & Means Committee as early as next Monday, according to informed sources. This could open the door to a House floor vote next Thursday, which the House leadership is strongly favoring, they said. The House leadership seems entranced by a floor vote on DR-CAFTA...

Bush Administration officials this afternoon expressed guarded optimism they would secure the votes necessary for House passage of fast-track legislation before the House adjourns later tonight, following a meeting of the House Republican conference with President Bush. But while most details of a House-Senate conference deal seemed to be in place late this afternoon (July 26), negotiators continued to tinker with sensitive provisions on health care and textile and apparel imports in order to round up the needed votes, congressional...