By Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer
Patterson
PRIME MINISTER P.J. Patterson, having observed the ongoing debate on free trade in the United States' presidential election campaign for months, now says that it is not likely that the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) will come into effect in January 2005 as planned.
Mr. Patterson, who heads the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on External Negotiations within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), believes that the political atmosphere in the United States has tilted away from the pro-free trade stance of the previous decade.
With the Presidential Election set for November, he told journalists at a Jamaica House press briefing on Friday that he did not expect much progress in the FTAA negotiations ahead of that event.
LABOUR MARKETS OVERSEAS
In the last few months, concerns about outsourcing of American jobs to cheaper labour markets overseas has become a major campaign issue, fuelled by daily news features about such job losses.
The "Lou Dobbs Tonight" show on CNN has established a list of firms which are "Exporting America", meaning they have relocated part or all of their operations overseas to benefit from lower labour and production costs in other countries.
Lou Dobbs, the host of the programme, issues a daily invitation for members of the public to send in names of other firms believed to be guilty of this practice to be added to the list, upon verification.
The outsourcing theme has been taken up by the presidential candidates, with the presumptive Democratic Party Nominee, John Kerry, blasting so-called "Benedict Arnold" (a term used to describe persons who betray their country) American firms, which take their jobs and their profits abroad.
Kerry has proposed a series of tax measures to reward companies which remain in the United States and punish those which take their operations overseas.
An aide to President George Bush was roundly condemned by many, including Republican Members of Congress, for suggesting that job outsourcing was good for the American economy, so much so that members of the administration were soon scrambling to "clarify" the comment.
It was in 1994 that plans were announced for the establishment of the FTAA, with implementation set for January 2005.
Negotiations towards meeting that deadline have slowed to a crawl, so much so that Prime Minister Patterson has all but given up hope that the target will be met.
SPEEDY IMPLEMENTATION
Asked about prospects for speedy implementation after the Presidential Election, he told members of the media that the debate in the United States had shifted so far in the other direction that gaining approval for the trade pact was not likely to be easy for the next administration.
In the meantime, he said, there was a growing feeling among other countries within the Hemisphere that the various sub-regions should be talking to each other about how they may advance the process of enhancing trading relations at that level.
Accordingly, he confirmed that Brazil's President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a leading proponent of that strategy, would be coming to Jamaica shortly for discussions on how CARICOM and Mercusor (the Southern Common Market, comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) might collaborate.
It was likely that some other CARICOM leaders will be in Jamaica for the face-to-face talks with President Lula, Prime Minister Patterson disclosed.
CARICOM, in the meantime, is moving ahead with plans to establish the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) in January 2005. This development was originally timed to coincide with the coming into being of the FTAA.
