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The Obama administration's trade policy will focus first on making sure countries play by the rules and only second on negotiating new trade deals, US Trade Representative-designee Ron Kirk said.
"The world economy is in a fragile state. And the president and I believe that US leadership will be vital to restoring confidence and certainty to the world's financial system," Kirk said in testimony prepared for his confirmation hearing.
"But I do not come to this job with what I have called in some of our meetings 'deal fever,'" Kirk said. "The first order of business for the administration on trade is to ensure strong enforcement of the rules."
The news comes just a day after New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser said he was optimistic that recently delayed trade talks with the US would resume once Kirk and his office was in place.
The US had been looking at joining the P4 trans-Pacific trade pact with New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei and Chile early next year but has pulled out of upcoming talks in Singapore.
Kirk's nomination
The Senate Finance Committee is holding a hearing late Monday afternoon (in the US) on Kirk's nomination to be US trade representative.
The former Dallas mayor and friend of President Barack Obama is expected to win Senate confirmation, even though the vetting process revealed a number of errors in his tax returns that will require him to pay about $US10,000 in back taxes.
Kirk, who was the first black mayor of Dallas from 1995 until 2001, described himself in the testimony as "a raging pragmatist" who tried to approach people and problems from a nonpartisan perspective.
He would take over as US trade representative at a time when many members of Obama's Democratic party are deeply suspicious of trade deals that former President George Bush pursued over the last eight years, including three pending pacts with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.
To seek fast-track authority
Even so, Kirk said his "other priorities include working with our trading partners to advance the Doha round negotiations, working with you and the countries in question on pending agreements and pursuing new initiatives that will seek to channel trade as a driver of economic progress - if they are done right."
He promised to consult closely with lawmakers as the Obama administration moves forward on trade and welcomed efforts in Congress to give the executive branch new resources to make sure other countries honor international commitments.
Kirk also acknowledged a deal the Bush administration struck with Congress in May 2007 to add enforceable labor and environmental provisions to free trade agreements and said it was important to work with both Democrats and Republicans in Congress to build on that work.
"The president and I believe that our mission is not simply to increase American exports, as important as that is, but to ensure that the way we promote trade reflects our country's values about economic progress and justice, including through the advancement of internationally recognised labor and environmental standards," Kirk said.
Many US business groups fear they will be disadvantaged if trading partners such as the European Union push forward with new trade agreements and the United States does not.
Kirk nodded to those concerns and said Obama, "at an appropriate time and with proper congressional inputs and concerns addressed," would ask Congress for new fast-track authority to negotiate trade deals.
Fast track has long been considered an essential tool for US negotiators. It allows the White House to negotiate trade deals that Congress must approve or reject without making any changes. The Democratic-controlled Congress refused to renew the authority for Bush after it expired in July 2007.
