[A-List] US imperialism: Australia

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Ahoy there, Rob Schaap! Any more informed commentary on this? Sounds like a
bilateral Multilateral Agreement on Investment. The network of bilateral
deals being drawn up by the US should be monitored closely. And, if I
recall, the US has certain citizenship qualifications for those wanting to
own US television networks (e.g. Rupert Murdoch). Nice of our correspondent
to forget to mention this, in her portrayal of Australia as a
protectionist's paradise.


Australia and US agree to hold trade talks
By Virginia Marsh in Sydney
FT.com: November 14 2002 12:55

The US is expected to demand changes to Australia's idiosyncratic foreign
investment regime as well as improved access to sensitive sectors such as
telecoms, media, oil and gas when it begins negotiations with Canberra over
a bilateral free trade agreement early next year.

Australia's centre-right coalition finally won an invitation on Thursday
from the Bush administration to begin talks on a FTA, a pact that it hopes
will elevate its economic relationship with Washington to the same level as
the two countries' close security and political ties.

Although Canberra estimates a FTA with the US would benefit the Australian
economy by A$4bn ($2.2bn) a year, the coalition has emphasised it also
considers a FTA to have broader strategic significance, a notion the US also
appeared to endorse on Thursday.

Announcing the development, Robert Zoellick (pictured), the US trade
representative, said: "I see this as a building block to a stronger economic
as well as political relationship."

However, Mr Zoellick who is in Australia to attend a high level meeting of
trade ministers on Friday denied the move was aimed at shoring up Canberra's
support for any US action against Iraq.

"We're doing [the trade agreement] because we consider it to be in mutual
interest," Mr Zoellick said.

He hoped formal negotiations could begin by March and said the aim was to
complete the talks during President George W Bush's present term in office.

However, many commentators doubt there will be an agreement before the 2004
presidential elections.

The recently agreed FTA between Australia and Singapore, Canberra's first
such pact in 20 years, took a year longer than expected to negotiate and it
did not include agriculture.

With the US, Australia's second largest export market, Canberra has said a
FTA would be meaningless without better access for its farmers. Yet it would
be too risky for the Bush administration to contemplate significant
concessions that would be unpopular with the US farm lobby ahead of an
election.

At the same time, many farmers in both countries, as well as Australia's
opposition Labor party, believe the FTA talks should be conducted in
parallel to the Doha trade round to which agriculture is also central.

While agriculture is considered the key sticking point Australia, in
contrast to the US, gives few subsidies and little trade protection to its
farmers. Some commentators also believe Canberra's foreign investment regime
will be a stumbling block.

At present, all significant foreign investments must be approved by a
government board which can recommend deals be blocked solely on "national
interest" grounds, as happened last year when a A$10bn bid by Shell to buy
Woodside, the leading local oil and gas group, was rejected. There are also
restrictions on real estate and media ownership by foreigners, on overseas
television and radio content, and on pharmaceutical prices.

"The US will want to get rid of our investment review process and that is
not doable for an Australian government of any stripe," a former Australian
trade official said on Thursday.