WASHINGTON-A key Senate lawmaker, amid a ballooning trade deficit and festering disputes with foreign countries over wireless standards and other barriers to open markets, today asked the General Accounting Office to review the 250 trade agreements to which the United States is a party.
“This study, which will b completed in 2005, will help Congress and the administration better assess how well we do at enforcing trade agreements and how to allocate our resources to achieve the best possible results,” said Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), ranking member of the Finance Committee, at a hearing this morning.
The Bush administration continues to negotiate with China and Korea over wireless standards for mobile-phone content downloading, Wi-Fi security and portable Internet service that government and industry leaders say would discriminate against U.S. wireless and high-tech companies.
Republicans and Democrats voiced concern about the U.S.’ $500 billion trade imbalance and the outsourcing of American jobs overseas, though they differed on how to address the latter matter. Wireless and other high-tech sectors embrace outsourcing as a cost-savings option that allows them to tap into technology expertise overseas.
However, U.S. lawmakers whose constituents have been laid off as a result of outsourcing are less sympathetic to the practice.
Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, accused Democrats-including presidential hopefuls-of exploiting offshore outsourcing for political gain during the election year.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, testifying before the panel, said outsourcing should be addressed in a way that helps workers hurt by the practice-by retraining, for example-without harming other jobs.
“It’s clear economic isolationism wont’t work,” said Zoellick.
