US Companies Critical to Expansion of Multilateral Trade Agenda, Says Azevedo
President Barack Obama urged World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevedo to ensure the WTO remains a forum to address enforcement of trade rights and the dismantling of unfair tariff and non-tariff barriers during a bilateral meeting in Washington D.C. on March 10, according to a senior administration official. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman later in the day pressed Azevedo to implement by 2015 the WTO trade facilitation deal brokered in Bali in December, according to a USTR spokesman.
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"They also shared views on various avenues for furthering the multilateral trade agenda, including the Doha Development Agenda," said the spokesman. "Ambassador Froman underscored the importance of trade enforcement and the WTO dispute settlement process. The Director General expressed his appreciation for U.S. leadership in the WTO.”
Azevedo also pushed the multilateral trade agenda during a U.S. Chamber of Commerce speech on March 10. U.S. companies benefit significantly from the multilateral trade agenda spearheaded by the World Trade Organization (WTO), and should therefore continue to support its expansion, said Azevedo. The Bali trade facilitation deal tackles one of many areas of multilateral trade that only a global forum can address, he said.
Financial or telecom regulations can't be liberalized for just one trade partner, said Azevedo. "So it is best to negotiate services trade-offs globally in the WTO,” said Azevedo. “Nor can farming or fisheries subsides be tacked in bilateral deals -- or disciplines on trade remedies, such as the application of antidumping or countervailing duties. The simple fact is that none of the big challenges facing world trade today can be solved outside the global system. They are global problems demanding global solutions.” As the world's largest economy, the U.S. is critical to the success of the multilateral agenda, said Azevedo. Roughly 300,000 U.S. companies are now exporters, said Azevedo, adding that exports represent a third of U.S. growth under President Barack Obama. Azevedo met with Obama prior to his speech at the chamber and was scheduled to meet with U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman later in the day. -- Brian Dabbs