Bush administration warns on limiting legal discretion of trade negotiators News
Bush administration warns on limiting legal discretion of trade negotiators

[JURIST] The Bush administration Tuesday expressed disapproval of a measure aimed at regulating trade negotiations, and discouraged Senate members from adopting it. The measure, offered as an amendment to the annual appropriations bill for the Departments of State, Commerce and related agencies [text] by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) [official website], would restrict US trade negotiators from agreeing to make changes to any laws allowing the US to impose duties against unfairly priced or subsidized imports, and would allow the Senate to block funding for any trade negotiations involving the laws. In a letter to Senators, US Trade Representative Rob Portman [official profile] and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez [official profile] urged the rejection of the "unwise amendment", and argued that passage would impair trade liberalization efforts within the World Trade Organziation by "provid[ing] our trading partners [with] an excuse to refuse to negotiate on sectors and subjects they consider sensitive." Reuters has more.