).
The next negotiating round will start the week of Nov. 14 in or around the Washington, D.C. area.
"At this stage, we're not calling it a closing round but we will see," the official remarked. "We are continuing to see if it can be done," he remarked.
''I'm told we never actually call anything a final round. You don't know it until you see it,'' the official added.
Hong Kong, Elections Will Overshadow AFT
Under questioning, the official denied that the United States had said that the negotiations would be postponed if they were not finished in November. However, he said that all four countries agree that attention will inevitably shift to the World Trade Organization ministerial in December if the Andean talks are not concluded by November. Also, both Peru and Colombia are facing elections "fairly quickly" next year "which is not the ideal environment for concluding talks," he said.
The official said that the negotiating groups had gone into a "decentralized mode" with groups meeting "whenever they feel they can make progress." In the course of the last two weeks, meetings have taken place on a wide variety of areas, including rules of origin, textiles, industrial market access, and intellectual property, he said.
Other negotiating groups are continuing contact over the phone, the official said. Aspects of the agreement are also being discussed bilaterally, he said, pointing to areas such as market access. "We've made progress. We've definitely continued to advance and narrow our differences. So we are working intensively to see if we can bring this to a successful close," the official told reporters.
The official declined to discuss specifics on textile negotiations but said that Andean proposals are being considered and some require further study. The parties need to finalize the tariff framework and agree on a rule of origin, he said. "It's mainly everything related to the rule of origin [in the textile talks] and we're not there yet," the official commented, indicating that intensive discussions were continuing.
The official said that the chief negotiators did not discuss agriculture during the stocktaking exercise. Agriculture is operating on a bilateral dynamic in terms of the market access discussions, he said, indicating that the parties were narrowing differences. "We have ... a lot of ground to cover still in agriculture as well as several other areas," the official said.
Ecuador's Trade Minister Jorge Illingworth, in a forum sponsored by the Inter-American Dialogue, Oct. 20 alluded to areas where he said that the United States pulled back concessions in the talks. When asked about this, the U.S. trade official remarked: "We're frankly not sure what he was talking about." He added: "there appears to be some misunderstanding."
Labor Issues With Ecuador
On other issues, the official said that the United States had been raising for some time concerns about the labor situation in Ecuador. He pointed to child labor and the need for adequate inspectors. The official also said that the "antiquated" labor code needs reform to meet core International Labor Organization standards. Illingworth said Oct. 20 that Ecuador is working on a new labor code.
The U.S. trade official said that Colombia, by contrast, has a "very strong" labor code. "We've not heard any significant criticism of [Colombia's] labor code," he commented. The problem that has been alluded to for Colombia is a history of violence against trade union leaders, the official said, noting that the violence has dropped significantly and that Colombia is intensifying efforts to prosecute perpetrators.
The countries had originally hoped to conclude the talks by mid-January of 2004 but that deadline slipped. The negotiations, which have been stymied by problems in agriculture and intellectual property rights, were launched in May of 2004.
While all four countries get unilateral trade preferences from the United States under the Andean Trade Preference Act, those benefits are due to expire on Dec. 31, 2006.
Democrats Raise Concerns
Separately, a group of House Democrats led by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) is circulating a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman that raises objections to USTR's proposals in the areas of agriculture and intellectual property, and also cites concerns over labor laws in the region.
In a "Dear Colleague" cover note seeking signatures for the letter, Schakowsky wrote that the Andean free trade agreement "raises many of the same concerns expressed about the terms of [the Central American-Dominican Republic free trade agreement] and many others specific to the Andean region." Only 15 Democrats voted for legislation implementing the CAFTA-DR, which passed in late July.
Reps. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), James P. McGovern (D-Mass.) and Lane Evans (D-Ill.) also signed the "Dear Colleague" letter. The letter to Portman has 13 signatories so far, a spokesman for Schakowsky said.
U.S. demands on agriculture, such as its call for Colombia to eliminate its price band system, could undercut farmers in the Andean region, the letter to Portman said, which could in turn lead to greater poverty and increased coca production.
In addition, the United States is proposing to extend patent protection by five years and impose an additional five-year ban on the use of original pharmaceutical company test data for the approval of generic medicines in its proposals on intellectual property rights (IPR), the letter said. These and other measures would reduce access to affordable medicines, the letter added.
On labor, the letter argued that labor laws in Ecuador and Colombia do not sufficiently protect worker rights, such as the right to organize and bargain collectively. The letter also noted that 2,000 trade unionists have been murdered in Colombia in the past decade.
"[T]hese concerns lead us to question whether the Andean FTA will in fact promote economic development in the Andean region, while at the same time generating new opportunities in the United States, or whether the agreement will bring with it more unemployment, greater insecurity and crime," the letter said.
