By a vote of 69 to 30, the Senate today voted down an amendment proposed by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) that would have withheld monies for the ongoing WTO negotiations if the United States took steps to weaken antidumping laws. The amendment to the fiscal year 2006 spending bill for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies would have denied funding for U.S. negotiators in the current Doha Round of multilateral negotiations. The Bush Administration has made public statements to the effect that it will accept some changes to the antidumping law as a price for completing these negotiations. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and U.S. Trade Representative Bob Portman wrote a letter to several senators in recent days stating the president might veto the appropriations bill if it contained the Dorgan amendment.
Forty seven Republicans, 12 Democrats and 1 Independent voted against the amendment; 31 Democrats and 8 Republicans voted for the amendment (1 Democratic Senator not voting).
In anticipation of a ministerial meeting to be held in Hong Kong this December, activities surrounding the Doha Round have picked up considerable steam, especially since this set of negotiations was all but pronounced dead after the talks collapsed in Cancún, Mexico nearly two years ago. From the U.S. perspective, a conclusion of the Doha Round by the December 2006 target date is vital if the agreement is to be considered under “fast track” rules prior to expiration of trade promotion authority in 2007.
It is interesting to note that some of the long-held and sacrosanct “markers” in U.S. trade policy – such as sugar; such as antidumping laws – may not have the same sway in Washington now that they had as recently as a year or two ago.
