WASHINGTON-The Bush administration is pushing free trade with the Middle East to alleviate political and social ills in that region.
While opening up new overseas markets would be beneficial to American wireless firms in a sluggish U.S. economy with soft consumer demand, it is not clear that the fruits of free trade can be realized amid stepped up fighting and bloodshed in the Middle East. Still, the United States has forged free trade pacts with Jordan and Israel, the latter having an advanced high-tech industrial base.
“Across the globe, free markets and trade have helped defeat poverty, and taught men and women the habits of liberty. So I propose the establishment of a U.S.-Middle East free trade area within a decade, to bring the Middle East into an expanding circle of opportunity, to provide hope for the people who live in that region,” said Bush in a May 9 speech.
The administration sees trade as a key component of a broader effort-begun with the overthrow of the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein-to democratize the Middle East and thus reduce global terrorism. Skeptics caution, however, that it will be tough getting Middle Eastern countries to adopt political, legal and economic reforms.
