20 September 2001
Byliner: USTR Zoellick on Countering Terror with Trade
(He calls on Congress to pass trade legislation) (1110)
(This byliner was published on the September 20 op-ed page of The
Washington Post.)
Countering Terror With Trade
By Robert B. Zoellick
(The author is the U.S. trade representative.)
America has been attacked by a malevolence that craves our panic,
retreat and abdication of global leadership. This grave test of a
generation's fiber is an assault on more than buildings and innocent
people -- it is a strike against liberty itself. Our enemy's selection
of targets -- the White House, the Pentagon and the World Trade Towers
-- recognizes that America's might and light emanate from our
political, military and economic vitality. Our counteroffensive must
advance U.S. leadership across all these fronts.
Our nation has drawn together in shock, mourning and defiance. Now we
must thrust forward the values that define us against our adversary:
openness, peaceful exchange, democracy, the rule of law, compassion
and tolerance. Economic strength -- at home and abroad -- is the
foundation of America's hard and soft power. Earlier enemies learned
that America is the arsenal of democracy; today's enemies will learn
that America is the economic engine for freedom, opportunity and
development. To that end, U.S. leadership in promoting the
international economic and trading system is vital. Trade is about
more than economic efficiency. It promotes the values at the heart of
this protracted struggle.
Prior Americans recognized the role of economic ideas in overcoming
international adversity. Congress granted Franklin D. Roosevelt the
authority to employ free trade as a cure for the protectionism of the
Great Depression and then to help Harry Truman revive a devastated
world. Throughout the Cold War, Congress empowered presidents with
trade negotiating authority to open markets, promote private
enterprise and spur liberty around the world -- complementing U.S.
alliances and strengthening our nation.
Congress now needs to send an unmistakable signal to the world that
the United States is committed to global leadership of openness and
understands that the staying power of our new coalition depends on
economic growth and hope. In particular, Congress needs to complete
action on the U.S. free trade agreement with Jordan, our first such
commitment in the Arab world. It needs to put the finishing touches on
our trade accord with Vietnam, a former foe that is recognizing that
its future depends on markets, not Marxism. Congress also should
reauthorize critical trade preference legislation for Andean
democracies struggling against internal threats and for other
developing nations relying on open markets to counter those who can
destroy but not build. And most important, Congress needs to enact
U.S. trade promotion authority so America can negotiate agreements
that advance the causes of openness, development and growth. It is a
sad irony that just as the old world of bipolar blocs faded into
history and the new world of globalization fast-forwarded, the United
States let its trade promotion authority lapse.
President Bush has been reestablishing American trade leadership by
moving on multiple fronts: globally, regionally and with individual
countries. In the wake of last week's attack, we affirmed our
commitment. The United States is working to launch new negotiations to
open markets at the World Trade Organization meeting in November. In
the past few days, we acted to bring China and Taiwan into the WTO
[World Trade Organization] this year. Yesterday, President Bush met
President Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia to emphasize our support
for the success of democracy in the largest Muslim country. Next week,
I will go to Moscow to work on Russia's accession to the WTO. Before
long, I will meet with African trade ministers to build new networks
through the African Growth and Opportunity Act. We are pressing ahead
with negotiations on a free trade area for all 34 democracies of the
Americas. We are driving to complete free trade agreements with Chile
and Singapore. New U.S. activism on trade has been drawing others
toward us so we can pursue free trade in a way that fosters a new type
of alliance for openness and fairness.
America is inextricably linked to the global economy. Trade and
earnings on international investments now amount to one-third of our
nation's output. Exports account for 25 percent of gross cash sales
for America's farmers and ranchers -- a projected total of $57 billion
[$57,000 million] for next year. The jobs of one out of every five
U.S. manufacturing workers rely on exports. And the annual gains from
our last major trade agreements -- the North American Free Trade
Agreement and the Uruguay Round -- amount to between $1,300 and $2,000
for the average American family of four.
America cannot lead effectively if it slips in international markets.
Yet the United States is a party to only two of the more than 130 free
trade agreements in the world; the United States belongs to only one
of the 30 free trade agreements in the Western Hemisphere. When
multiplied across products and countries, the cost to America's
strength -- and to workers, farmers and families -- of falling behind
on trade soars exponentially.
America's trade leadership can build a coalition of countries that
cherish liberty in all its aspects. Open markets are vital for
developing nations, many of them fragile democracies that rely on the
international economy to overcome poverty and create opportunity; we
need answers for those who ask for economic hope to counter internal
threats to our common values. To address the relationship between
trade agreements and other international objectives, the president has
proposed that we build on openness and growth in developing countries
with a toolbox of cooperative policies. There is no "one size fits
all" formula that can deal with environment, labor, health and other
challenges. Other nations are more likely to work with us to improve
local standards if our approach is positive, not intimidating. As
former president Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico said, some supposed friends
of the downtrodden "seem strangely determined to save the developing
world from development." For certain, we should not deny the benefits
of trade until we reach domestic consensus on global application of
social policies.
We need to infuse our global leadership with a new sense of purpose
and lasting resolve. Congress, working with the Bush administration,
has an opportunity to shape history by raising the flag of American
economic leadership. The terrorists deliberately chose the World Trade
towers as their target. While their blow toppled the towers, it cannot
and will not shake the foundation of world trade and freedom.
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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