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Australian trade minister says US wants FTA approval by July
Sydney, Mar 01: The US wants to have the free trade deal with Australia ready for passage by July, Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile said Sunday. The two countries signed off on a free trade agreement in February but it now needs to be passed by Australia`s two Houses of Parliament and the US Congress. It is expected to come into force in January 2005.
Sydney, Mar 01: The US wants to have the free trade deal with Australia ready for passage by July, Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile said Sunday. The two countries signed off on a free trade agreement in February but it now needs to be passed by Australia's two Houses of Parliament and the US Congress. It is expected to come into force in January 2005.
Vaile said the Bush administration wanted the deal to be ready before the U.S.
presidential elections in November.
"It looks like it will be available by July," Vaile told a television Sunday. He said the Australian parliament was already studying the agreement and its effect on local industries, but declined to say if Australia was following the US schedule.
He said the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties was looking at it, along with a Senate committee, in case legislation needed to be changed to accommodate the deal.
Government ministers have in the past said the accord, reached after months of negotiations, would boost the local economy by up to $3.12 billion a year through increased access to agricultural markets and the elimination of duties on 97% of manufactured goods that Australia sells to the U.S. The US is expected to reap benefits worth an extra $2 billion a year once duties are eliminated from more than 99% of American manufacturing exports to Australia.
Vaile said his government expected the agreement to be passed with little opposition, because sensitive areas like Australia's pharmaceutical benefits plan and its wheat trade were still protected, despite heavy lobbying from U.S. interests.
"We believe that has all been covered so there should not be any opposition to the agreement."
Bureau Report
"It looks like it will be available by July," Vaile told a television Sunday. He said the Australian parliament was already studying the agreement and its effect on local industries, but declined to say if Australia was following the US schedule.
He said the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties was looking at it, along with a Senate committee, in case legislation needed to be changed to accommodate the deal.
Government ministers have in the past said the accord, reached after months of negotiations, would boost the local economy by up to $3.12 billion a year through increased access to agricultural markets and the elimination of duties on 97% of manufactured goods that Australia sells to the U.S. The US is expected to reap benefits worth an extra $2 billion a year once duties are eliminated from more than 99% of American manufacturing exports to Australia.
Vaile said his government expected the agreement to be passed with little opposition, because sensitive areas like Australia's pharmaceutical benefits plan and its wheat trade were still protected, despite heavy lobbying from U.S. interests.
"We believe that has all been covered so there should not be any opposition to the agreement."
Bureau Report