U.S. wants Asia-Pacific to make 'downpayment'

U.S. wants Asia-Pacific to make 'downpayment'

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): The United States called on Asia
Pacific nations yesterday to make a "downpayment" on their
commitment to trade liberalization at a trade summit in Japan
later this year.

U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce Jeffrey Garten told reporters
at the end of a visit to Malaysia that Washington wanted the Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to come up with an
ambitious plan at the Osaka summit in November.

"Generally speaking, the U.S. wants an ambitious plan because
if you aim low, the results are usually low," he said.

Washington wanted the 18 members of APEC to "agree on a
blueprint for trade liberalization in the early part of the 21st
century", Garten said.

"We would also like to see a downpayment...we want to see
countries make a commitment," he added.

"There is a lot of skepticism that together the APEC countries
are going to get beyond the rhetorical level," Garten said.

At last year's summit in Bogor, Indonesia, APEC agreed to work
toward an Asia Pacific Free Trade Area by the year 2020.

The Osaka summit is meant to design a "road map" by which APEC
members will reach their goal.

APEC groups Australia, the United States, Canada, Mexico,
Japan, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Indonesia,
Brunei, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Papua New
Guinea and New Zealand.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), all of
whose members except Vietnam belong to APEC, has agreed to
implement an ASEAN Free Trade Area by the year 2003 at the
latest.

"For us, ASEAN is the motive for trade liberalization in
APEC," Garten said.

Noting that more than two-thirds of the U.S. trade deficit is
with Asia, he said: "There is tremendous amount of pressure in
the U.S. to increase exports to Asia."

Garten said ASEAN would probably become the second biggest
market, after Mexico, for American goods among the newly emerging
industrialized countries in the next five years.

He said ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, the
Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam, was the latest
addition to a U.S. top 10 list of emerging markets.

"This is a market of 400 million people with a GDP of US$500
billion and our projections are that the GDP will double in five
years.

"This means that with the exception of Mexico, ASEAN will be
the largest destination for American exports of the 10 emerging
markets," Garten said.

He said the United States will raise investment in, and double
exports to, ASEAN in the next five years, making the region its
largest emerging market trade partner after Mexico, a senior U.S.
official said yesterday.

"The U.S. exported goods worth $16 billion to ASEAN in 1989
and the figure rose to $32 billion in 1994. We expect the figure
to double again in the next five years," U.S. Under Secretary of
Commerce Jeffrey Garten said.

"We want to bring more U.S. firms, such as those producing car
parts and consumer goods to the region and expose them to several
countries at once," Garten said.

Washington is also looking at helping ASEAN upgrade its the
skills of its workforce, Garten said.