WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The U.S. wants flexibility in talks toward a hemispheric free trade area so that countries willing to liberalize faster than others can do so, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said Friday.
"The U.S. would like the flexibility to move at a different pace on tariff reduction for countries with different problems," Zoellick told reporters during a break from a meeting with Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Lafer.
In effect, the U.S. wants the ability to make different offers to different countries during Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations. Brazil opposes, preferring to require nations to present one offer to all members of the hemisphere.
Brazil, with presidential elections set for Oct. 6 and polls showing a deep public mistrust over U.S. intentions for the FTAA, has been viewed as keen to slow negotiations. Thursday, during his stop in Canada, Lafer reportedly rejected a Canadian proposal for a regional summit next year to accelerate progress. Presidential frontrunner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday described the FTAA as an American attempt to "annex the Latin Americas market."
But Zoellick downplayed differences between the U.S. and Brazil, promising that after the elections the two sides would work closely together as co-chairs of FTAA negotiations and saying they would pursue a common interest in easing agriculture trade subsidies in international trade talks at the World Trade Organization.
"We see Brazil as a partner for the long term, and not just in the hemisphere," Zoellick said.
-By Elizabeth Price, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9295; Elizabeth.Price@dowjones.com
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. NoNonsense English offers this material non-commercially for research and educational purposes. I believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, i.e. the media service or newspaper which first published the article online and which is indicated at the top of the article unless otherwise specified.