US trade rep urges Brazil open market to imports

Reuters, 01.09.03, 6:07 PM ET By Doug Palmer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick Thursday urged Brazil to make an "ambitious" offer to open its market to more imports as part of negotiations on a proposed Western Hemisphere free trade zone.

In a round-table discussion with reporters, Zoellick said he remained hopeful of working with Brazil's new leftist government to complete talks on the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement by the target of January 2005.

But he repeated the United States was prepared to move forward with other trade negotiations within the Hemisphere if Brazil begins dragging its feet in the FTAA talks.

"If you get stuck, we're not getting stuck, we're moving on," Zoellick said in comments directed at the Brazilians.

Countries face a Feb. 15 deadline for making their initial market opening offers in the FTAA negotiations.

However, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office just last week and there are indications his new administration could miss the deadline by 30 days.

Zoellick said that was understandable given the new team's need to review the issues.

"But I urged them to move relatively quickly so it's not viewed as a slippage of their interest in the talks," he said. "The question to watch here is how ambitious will Brazil be and how does it fit into their larger development strategy."

Zoellick, who attended Lula's inauguration last week, said Brazil's domestic situation requires export-oriented policies to generate growth. But opening the Brazilian market to more imports should also be a part of that strategy, he said.

Lula has warned his government would be a tough negotiator in the FTAA talks, pushing hard for the United States to lower its import barriers on sugar, citrus, steel and other goods important to Latin America's largest economy.

Zoellick said the United States would be just as tough, pressuring Brazil to lower its tariffs on "sensitive" products such autos and computers, to strengthen its protections against illegal copying of U.S. movies, music and books and to allow more U.S. participation in its services sector.

On Wednesday, the United States formally began negotiations with five Central American countries on a free trade pact with a goal of finishing by the end of the year. That followed completion of a similar agreement with Chile in December.

Those initiatives show the United States has more options to expanding trade in the hemisphere than just the FTAA, Zoellick said.

"I've had the Colombians, the Peruvians, the Bolivians, the Uruguayans all want to do free trade agreements," he said. "Our position is we want to move the FTAA, but the doors are open" to other agreements if that becomes stalled.