Baker Hails Trade Accord With Canada
The U.S.-Canada free trade pact could set a pattern for agreements with other countries and prompt action on such stubborn problems as farm subsidies, U.S. Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III said Wednesday.
“This agreement should serve as a lever to achieve more open trade . . . . By employing this lever together, the U.S. and Canada may be able to dislodge obstacles in special areas of common concern--such as agriculture,” Baker said in a speech to the Canadian Importers & Exporters Assn.
He noted that the just concluded seven-nation economic summit meeting had spent a great deal of time on the question of lowering farm subsidies.
President Reagan brought to the summit a proposal to eliminate all government farm help by the year 2000--a plan that was rejected by the European Community. The final summit message said trade negotiators should work toward “the reduction of all direct and indirect subsidies,” wording that fell short of the U.S. plan.
But Baker said the U.S.-Canada trade accord will force some nations to realize that trade will be expanded with or without them.
“If all nations are not ready to liberalize trade, we will begin with those that are and build on that success,” he said.
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