coming soon: anti-WTO legislation

[Ian Murray <seamus2001@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.southbendtribune.com
June 13, 2003
Bayh to introduce WTO legislation
Senator: Trade group's rulings unfair to U.S.

By JAMES WENSITS
Tribune Political Writer


U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh said Thursday there is growing evidence that the World
Trade Organization is neither neutral nor impartial when it comes to
decisions affecting American trade.

In an effort to combat that perceived unfairness, Bayh announced that he
is introducing legislation he says will protect thousands of Indiana and
U.S. jobs by strengthening U.S. trade laws against WTO rulings.

"We can't be patsies," Bayh said in a telephone interview during which he
outlined the new legislation.

According to Bayh, 17 of 20 case decisions made by the WTO since 1997 have
gone against the United States. His legislation would create a panel of
retired federal judges whose job would be to review WTO decisions and
render a "second opinion" regarding their fairness.

Should the judges, over a five-year period, detect a pattern of bias, the
measure calls for the government to take action by suspending trade
promotion authority and requiring the president to present a plan to
achieve WTO reform of its dispute settlement system.

The measure would also strengthen litigation efforts by the U.S. trade
representative, enhance congressional oversight of WTO matters and
"establish specific U.S. negotiating objectives at the WTO to bring about
a dispute settlement system that is more limited, professional and
transparent," according to Bayh.

Bayh said his goal is to protect the jobs of Hoosier farmers, steel
workers, metal casters and others whose products are exported to other
countries. "The stakes are high," he said.

He was particularly incensed by a WTO decision that struck down U.S.
tariffs on imported steel and disallowed a U.S. plan to use money
collected from the tariffs to reimburse injured steel companies.

"The very legitimacy of the international trade system is at stake," Bayh
said.

Bayh blamed WTO dispute panelists for the anti-American decisions and said
he believes it is "very hard for someone employed by a foreign government
to be a neutral judge."

Asked whether foreign governments might not say the same thing about the
panel of American judges envisioned by Bayh, the Hoosier Democrat conceded
that "it might be difficult to achieve absolute purity."

Still, he said, there is a need to assess whether the WTO is operating
fairly, saying that it would not be in the best interests of the United
States to pay judges to rule falsely.

"It is in our interest to have free trade," he said, adding that it would
not be in the nation's interest to set up a biased process.

The WTO incensed the U.S. steel industry when a dispute panel ruled
earlier this year against temporary tariffs imposed by President Bush in
2002.

The United States has appealed the ruling, and the WTO appellate body is
expected to make a decision next fall.

"Senator Bayh's bill would make critical reforms to improve the way we
litigate at the WTO and help rein in abuses in the WTO system," said
Thomas J. Usher, chairman and chief executive officer of U.S. Steel Corp.
"Given the enormous implications of these cases for U.S. manufacturers, we
need to take these common-sense steps now to preserve the integrity of our
laws and to make the WTO process work for Americans."

According to one industry spokesman, the WTO has been used both by those
who have an anti-U.S. bias as well as those who have an anti-trade law
bias.

Because the United States has strong trade laws and enforces them, it is
the target of those who "are anxious to take our laws down," he said.

That procedure usually takes the form of seeking a WTO ruling that U.S.
law doesn't conform with WTO law, the spokesman said.

In addition to rulings adverse to the U.S. steel industry, Bayh cited
decisions regarding a variety of other products, including
semi-conductors, lamb meat, pipe, wheat gluten and clothing as examples of
WTO unfairness.