U.S. Puts Tariffs on the Table

In a bid to jump-start stalled talks on a hemispherewide free-trade pact, the U.S. will offer to slash tariffs on two-thirds of America’s imports of consumer and industrial products from Latin America immediately after an accord is reached, a Bush administration official said Tuesday.

The proposal would open some protected U.S. industries to increased foreign competition but doesn’t address safeguards for American sugar, cotton, citrus and peanuts, which many Latin American countries say must be considered if the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement is to be completed on schedule by 2005.

President Bush declared in April 2001 that creation of the trade zone, covering all 34 democracies in the Western Hemisphere, would be one of his top trade priorities. However, negotiations have stalled, with officials in Brazil and Argentina complaining that the United States has been unwilling to lower its own trade barriers.

U.S. negotiators will offer to eliminate all tariffs on about 66% of U.S. imports of consumer and industrial goods immediately upon creation of the FTAA. U.S. imports of textiles and apparel would be duty-free five years after that, and all U.S. tariffs would be phased out within 10 years.

“The U.S. has created a detailed roadmap for free trade in the Western Hemisphere,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick said. “We’ve put all our tariffs on the table, and we now hope our trading partners will do the same.”

The offer will be presented this week in Panama.