Singapore And US To Sign Free-Trade Agreement

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, Washington

06 May 2003

Senior US administration officials are heavily influenced in their international diplomacy at present by the behaviour of individual countries during the Iraq campaign; thus France, Germany and Russia were pointedly excluded from last week's discussions over the formation of an intermediate regime in Iraq. This week in Washington officials have an easy call, when Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, who supported the US over Iraq, will come to Washington to sign a bilateral agreement liberalizing trade in services and covering intellectual property in technology and pharmaceuticals.

A more difficult call for the administration is what to do about a similar deal with Chile, currently lying on the table: Chile currently has a seat on the UN Security Council and opposed the war in Iraq. America's trade competitors, including the EU and Canada, have already signed similar deals with Chile, so there is considerable pressure on the administration from US business interests to sign an agreement.

Aside from blotting its copy book over Iraq, Chile has done everything right in US eyes over the last few years, establishing strong democratic institutions and making considerable progress towards liberalizing its economy, in stark contrast to its neighbour Argentina's plunge into economic anarchy. Expect the administration to do the deal, therefore. In the words of the Washington Times: 'A free-trade deal with Chile will probably not be given the pomp or priority of the agreement with Singapore, but there are reasons why one is still in America's interests.'

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