Good News From USTR

It’s rare for good news to come out of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Yesterday, it happened twice.

First, the Bush administration announced that USTR Rob Portman would be leaving to take over as head of the Office of Management and Budget. This announcement was widely interpreted as indicating that the administration was deprioritizing its trade agenda. In the world of trade negotiations, where posturing and positioning have very significant effects on final outcomes, if everyone believes the Portman move means the US will be placing less emphasis on forcing through new trade deals, then the US will lose some of its negotiating power. If other countries anticipate the US will be less forceful and engaged, they will be more ready to stand up to US demands. And, to the extent that the administration has made a conscious decision not to spend its waning political capital on trade agreements, that’s a very good thing for people everywhere.

Second, negotiations over a free trade deal that would encompass the United States and the Southern African Customs Union (South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland) appear to have hit a brick wall. Notably, the SACU countries have refused to capitulate to US demands on patents and intellectual property issues. Among other things, the US demands would raise the price of HIV/AIDS and other essential medicines.

About the prospect of a trade deal with the United States, Tanya Van Meelis of the Congress of South Africa Trade Unions (COSATU) said, “As the largest trade union federation in South Africa with two million members we are concerned about a Free Trade Agreement modeled after other U.S. agreements and its potential negative impact on levels of employment, poverty and government’s ability to meet basic needs. In a country that faces 26 percent official unemployment and 40 percent when using the broader definition that includes those too discouraged to seek work,” continued Van Meelis, “if an FTA cannot contribute to these goals, we would not support it.” A press statement from groups opposing a US-SACU trade deal as harmful to the interests of Southern African countries is here: SACU.release.doc