U.S. says trade plan won't hurt forests

U.S. says trade plan won't hurt forests

WASHINGTON (Reuters): A controversial U.S. proposal to slash tariffs worldwide on paper, wooden furniture and other forest products would have little impact on the environment, the White House said on Tuesday in a study playing down the threat of deforestation.

But the study, by the office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the White House Council on Environmental Quality, concluded that logging in Finland, Australia, Indonesia and several other countries would increase sharply, while timber cutting in South Korea, France, Japan, Mexico and Russia would decline.

Environmental groups said the White House report was flawed, and called on President Bill Clinton to abandon the forest initiative.

The forest products proposal is part of the White House's accelerated tariff liberalization initiative, known as the ATL, calling for World Trade Organization members to reduce tariffs quickly in eight sectors, covering items as diverse as toys and jewelry, paper, pulp and prefab housing.

Washington hopes to give the ATL initiative a boost at the meeting of WTO ministers in Seattle Nov. 30 to Dec. 3.

Increased incomes, in turn, could spur consumption of more environmentally-friendly products and boost conservation efforts in the developing world, the study concluded.

Under the ATL, developed countries would eliminate tariffs by Jan. 1, 2002, for wood chemicals, wood, rattan, wood furniture and prefab housing. It would urge developing nations to meet the same targets but give them an two extra years to complete the tariff cuts.

Logging would increase in Australia, Chile, China, Finland, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Sweden under the ATL.

For Malaysia and Indonesia, these increases would be in the range of 2.6 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively, by 2010.