WASHINGTON—Senate Finance Committee leaders Tuesday agreed on a fast-track trade bill that the panel plans to vote on today, a positive development for telecom manufacturers and the Bush administration. Both have aggressively lobbied the issue.
The breakthrough on trade promotion authority legislation, which was announced late yesterday morning by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking member Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), provides the president direction on e-commerce, labor rights and environmental protection. The House last week barely passed fast track trade legislation.
Senate progress on the trade bill comes a day after China—the world’s biggest mobile-phone market—became the 143rd member of the World Trade Organization.
“This is a historic moment for the WTO, for China and for international economic cooperation,” said WTO Director-General Mike Moore.
The global telecom equipment market is $300 billion and growing at 15 percent a year, according to the Telecommunications Industry Association.
