U.S. Remains Committed to FTAA, But Commerce Official Says Leave Farm Subsidy Issue to WTO

BUENOS AIRES--The Bush administration remains committed to the stalled Free Trade Area of the Americas but the issue of U.S. farm subsidies and support policies, which Latin nations blame for the impasse, should be dealt with at the World Trade Organization, not in regional negotiations, a U.S. trade official said.

'The U.S. stance has not changed,' visiting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Western Hemisphere Affairs Walter Bastian said Aug. 2. 'We continue to support the process,' he told reporters.But he said the White House has made clear to Western Hemisphere nations with which it wants to forge a pan-American free trade area that would include all 34 countries in the Americas but Cuba that agricultural subsidies should be treated as a worldwide, not as a regional issue.

'I believe we have to solve this at a global level, because we are not going to disarm our subsidies unilaterally,' he said. 'This is something that has to be done by all countries, and that is why we are seeking a solution at the WTO. I believe we have been clear enough at FTAA meetings that that is the way this should be treated.'

Bastian also played down a discrepancy that recently emerged with Argentina over the thrust of the upcoming 34-nation Summit of the Americas to be held Nov. 4-5 in Mar del Plata, a resort 250 miles south of Buenos Aires.

Clash on Summit of Americas

While the focus of the meeting will be on poverty alleviation and job creation, Argentina and other Latin nations want to discuss U.S. subsidies. Argentina's envoy to the United States has also said President Nestor Kirchner's administration wants to discuss ways to improve wealth distribution.

On the other hand, Washington wants the emphasis on boosting free trade and investment and fighting terrorism, which Bastian said was seriously hurting international trade. Yet, the official said, 'We're not in a situation where there won't be a summit because we cannot reach an agreement on economic issues. That's not going to happen.'

The FTAA was originally due to kick in on Jan. 1, 2005, but the United States and Latin America were unable to overcome their differences over market access in time to meet the deadline. While nations south of Rio Grande decry U.S. agricultural subsidies, Washington demands a better deal in the industrial, copyright, government procurement, and investment and financial areas.

In May, FTAA co-chairs Brazil and the United States postponed for a second time a scheduled meeting to lay the groundwork for a new round of hemispheric talks. No new date was set for a meeting of the co-chairs, who claimed 'scheduling issues' had forced them to postpone the gathering.

And in late June, presidents and ministers from virtually all South American nations gathered in Paraguay to discuss trade and integration issues -- yet not a single mention of the FTAA was made in their 52-point final communiqu