Trade deal for U.S., Australia

Updated Wed May 19, 2004            By Andrew Beadle
The JOURNAL of COMMERCE ONLINE

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. and Australia signed a free trade agreement that moves the partners closer to eliminating tariffs on more than 99 percent of goods manufactured in the U.S. and exported to Australia.

"This is the most significant immediate reduction of industrial tariffs ever achieved in a U.S. free trade agreement," U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said Tuesday at the signing. "In addition to freeing trade in industrial goods, the new FTA removes barriers to agricultural products, investment, government procurement, and services while increasing protection for intellectual property and freeing electronic commerce."

Some U.S. barriers to Australian sugar, beef and dairy products will remain in place or dissolve slowly over the next 18 years.

According to the office of the USTR, yearly two-way goods and services trade is nearly $29 billion and two-way foreign direct investment is about $61 billion. The U.S. enjoys a bilateral goods and services trade surplus of $9 billion, the office said.

The agreement was completed in February, and must be approved by Congress before it can go into effect. Unlike other proposed free trade agreements, such as the pact with several Central American countries, the U.S.-Australia deal has broad bipartisan support in Congress.

The U.S. currently has free trade agreements with Israel, Canada and Mexico -- the North American Free Trade Agreement -- Jordan, Chile and Singapore.

More strong growth for China trade in 2004

Updated 12:21 p.m. ET, Mon May 24, 2004
The JOURNAL of COMMERCE ONLINE

China's foreign trade will continue to grow rapidly in 2004, according to a report released by the Ministry of Commerce.

The report said total trade volume will likely top $1 trillion, an increase of 17 percent over 2003.

The news comes as Beijing takes steps to temper its red-hot economy.

Export volume will total $505 billion while imports reach $495 billion dollars, up 15 percent and 20 percent respectively.