U.S. Trade Office Defends U.S. Membership In WTO

Reuters Indiahttp://www.reuters.co.in/locales/c_newsArticle.jsp?type=businessNews&localeKey=en_IN&storyID=7779229

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration defended U.S. membership in the World Trade Organization on Tuesday as congressional opponents of the world trade body said they would demand a vote on whether to quit.

U.S. law gives Congress the right to vote on WTO membership every five years.As the first step in that process, the U.S. Trade Representative's office must deliver a report outlining the costs and benefits of U.S.participation.

The trade office warned that turning away from the WTO 'would bring certain closure of markets to those American workers and farmers dependent on continued trade liberalization and would ignite unfettered trade practices that would distort the global economy beyond anything imaginable today.'

It argued that free trade has helped boost U.S. gross domestic output 38 percent over the past decade and contributed to a 25 percent rise in individual incomes.

U.S. consumers have benefited through lower prices for groceries and many other goods such as automobiles, household appliances, televisions and cellular phones, USTR said.

But Rep. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, said the price of WTO membership and other trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement has been too high.

'The bottom line is that our current trade polices ... have been an absolute disaster for the middle class and working class of our country. American workers can not -- and should not be asked to -- compete against desperate people in China and elsewhere who are forced to work for 30 cents an hour, who go to jail if they try to form independent unions,' he said.

Although a growing number of lawmakers favor quitting the WTO, they face a 'tough fight' from business groups who want the United States to stay in, Sanders said.

Congressional mistrust of trade agreements has mounted as the U.S. trade deficit surged to a record $617.7 billion in 2004, up 24 percent from 2003.Many lawmakers also are upset by WTO panel rulings against U.S. anti-dumping laws that protect domestic producers by taxing low-priced imports.

The measure would have to pass both the House of Representatives and the Senate and be signed by President George W. Bush to become law. If Bush were to veto the measure, it would take a two-thirds vote of Congress to override.

Congress' first chance to vote on WTO membership was in 2000. A resolution offered by Rep. Ron Paul, a Texas Republican who will back Sanders this year, was defeated 56-363.

The Senate did not take up the measure in 2000 and may not this year, Senate aides said.