EU, U.S to step up pressure on ASEAN<\/p>\n
BRUSSELS (AFP): The European Union and the United States
\nagreed yesterday to step up pressure on ASEAN and other emerging
\neconomies to open up their financial services sectors, EU
\nCommission sources said after bilateral trade talks yesterday.<\/p>\n
U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Cantor and EU Trade
\nCommissioner Sir Leon Brittan held two and a half hours of talks.<\/p>\n
Brittan and Kantor held talks on a range of simmering trade
\ndisputes between the U.S. and EU as well as coordinating their
\napproach to a number of global issues ahead of this week's OECD
\nministerial in Paris.<\/p>\n
The two agreed on the need for a number of countries --
\nincluding the ASEAN block, Brazil and India -- to make faster
\nprogress on opening up their financial services industries to
\ninternational competition, as they have undertaken to do by the
\nend of June under the Uruguay Round world trade agreements.<\/p>\n
"Time is running out if the deadline is to be met," Guildford
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Commission sources indicated that South Korea would come under
\nparticular pressure this week in Paris with the issue being
\nlinked to the country's application to join the OECD.<\/p>\n
Although the European Union and United States agree on the
\nobjective to step up the pressure for liberalization in the
\nbanking sector, the European Union is concerned that the United
\nStates will resort to reciprocal measures under its Most Favored
\nNation trading arrangements.<\/p>\n
"Most Favored Nation is a right that should be extended to all
\nmembers of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and we would not
\nconsider it right and proper for it to be used as a bargaining
\nchip in bilateral negotiations," a commission spokesman said.<\/p>\n
The European Union is also seeking to ensure that the
\nconcessions won by the United States in a bilateral accord with
\nJapan are extended to all countries equally.<\/p>\n
Brittan and Kantor both said progress had been made in
\nresolving EU-U.S. disputes over banana imports, a compensation
\npackage for the trade the United States has lost because of the
\nEU's enlargement to include Austria, Finland and Sweden, and a
\nplanned EU import ban on U.S. and Canadian pelts from animals
\ncaught by leghold traps.<\/p>\n
"We discussed 17 issues in two and a half hours and I can
\ntruly say we made progress," Kantor said.<\/p>\n
The European Union welcomed a commitment from Kantor that
\ntalks on liberalization of investment rules could take place
\nwithin the WTO in parallel to those underway in the OECD.<\/p>",
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