Financial Times (London) | November 11, 1999 | By MARK SUZMAN
WASHINGTON - President Bill Clinton yesterday mounted a vigorous defence of trade liberalisation as part of a broader administration effort to win public support for the planned launch of a new round of global trade talks in Seattle later this month.
Addressing workers at a Harley-Davidson motorcycle plant in York, Pennsylvania, Mr Clinton said US economic success was underpinned by expanding exports. He sought to allay concerns that free trade poses a threat to labour and environmental protection.
He said he welcomed the large anti-trade demonstrations being planned by a range of non-governmental organisations at the World Trade Organisation meeting. He hoped they would contribute to a constructive discussion on how best to modify the trade system. "I want us to try to find a consensus where we can expand trade and still find a way to protect labour and the environment," he said.
The speech was the centrepiece of a special "National Trade Education Day" organised by William Daley, commerce secretary, to try to offset growing scepticism within the US about the benefits of free trade. Several other trade related events - sponsored by companies such as AT&T, Boeing, Delta and Bell South - were held across the country.
"The occasion of the upcoming WTO meeting in Seattle underscores the need for everyone to understand that America's prosperity in the years to come will depend on how well our companies, and our workers, are able to compete in the world economy," Mr Daley said.
The Commerce Department also released a report demonstrating that more than 90 per cent of US metropolitan areas were now more dependent on exports for economic growth than they had been five years ago.
Over the past year, Mr Daley has joined senior business executives to travel the country to try to build support for trade issues. However the tour has repeatedly been disrupted by anti-trade demonstrators.
Lori Wallach, director of the Global Trade Watch consumer group, said the event demonstrated a "deep disconnect" between the administration and the US public on trade issues. "The Commerce Department tour, sponsored in part by large business lobbies, has failed to energise the public behind the administration's corporate managed trade agenda," she said.
Copyright 1999 The Financial Times Limited
