Administration Predicts Trade Pact Approval

Legislation to implement a worldwide trade agreement will be introduced next week and is likely to be approved by Congress before it leaves for the year, Administration officials predicted Monday.

Passage of the legislation would help California once again “become the engine of growth in this country,” Special Trade Representative Mickey Kantor told a group of state business and labor leaders at a Washington seminar organized by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). California stands to benefit because of its proximity to the fast-growing economies in southeast Asia and Latin America, Kantor noted. The legislation would cut tariffs by an average of 40%, expand overseas markets for consumer goods and simplify a vast array of complex regulations.

Congressional ratification would crown a successful seven-year effort to negotiate a new framework for world trade to replace the 47-year-old General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The pact was completed last December and submitted to individual nations for ratification.

Key Congressional leaders are preparing a final version of the bill in consultation with the White House. “There is plenty of time to pass it before they go home,” Kantor said. Congress is expected to remain in session through mid-October, Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-Me.) told the seminar.

Although Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), an influential lawmaker who has usually taken a pro-trade stance, wants to postpone the vote until next year, the Administration is confident it can win passage now.