MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US insists in global trade agreement by end of July

Newly confirmed United States Trade Representative Susan Schwab said it is crucial for negotiators to wrap up the key elements of a global trade agreement by the end of July. However she did not reveal how she planned to overcome major obstacles with Europe and developing nations.

Schwab, who won Senate confirmation on Thursday to succeed Rob Portman as the top US trade negotiator, said that the US had no interest in pursuing anything less than a significant reduction in trade barriers on farm products, manufactured goods and service industries such as banking.

"The United States is determined to seek a robust outcome" she said adding she would travel to Geneva at the end of June for another round of negotiations.

"We are not willing to settle for something less than an ambitious outcome." The United States is among 149 nations, who are trying to conclude a global round of trade talks known as the Doha Round.

Those negotiations have missed a number of deadlines, so far because of an inability to reach a deal on cutting farm barriers in Europe, the United States and other rich nations and a refusal of major developing countries, such as India and Brazil to agree to significant tariff reductions in the areas of manufactured goods and services.

Schwab said she would travel to Geneva at the end of June for another round of negotiations with the goal of wrapping up the major outlines of a deal by the end of July. Ambassador Susan C. Schwab was nominated to serve as the United States Trade Representative on April 18, 2006 and was confirmed unanimously Thursday by the United States Senate.

In this capacity she is responsible for trade policy development, negotiation and implementation across a range of issues and regions. Ambassador Schwab's portfolio includes overseeing U.S. trade relations with Europe and Eurasia, the Middle East, and the Americas. In addition she is responsible for USTR operations involving the WTO and multilateral affairs; services and investment; intellectual property; industry, market access and telecommunications; and intergovernmental affairs and public liaison activities.

Since her arrival at USTR, Ambassador Schwab has been actively engaged in the development of U.S. strategy in the Doha Round multilateral trade negotiations, and successfully concluded bilateral free trade agreements with Peru and Colombia.

Ambassador Schwab served as Dean of the University Of Maryland School Of Public Policy from 1995 through 2003. Immediately before joining the Administration, she held the position of President and CEO of the University System of Maryland (USM) Foundation and USM Vice Chancellor for Advancement. Schwab came to the University of Maryland from Motorola, Inc., where she served as Director of Corporate Business Development, and where she was engaged in strategic planning and negotiation on behalf of the company in China and elsewhere in Asia. Prior to that appointment she was Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General of the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service during the Administration of George H.W. Bush.

Schwab spent most of the 1980s as a trade policy specialist and then legislative director for Senator John C. Danforth (R-Mo.), playing a major role in numerous U.S. trade policy initiatives, including landmark trade legislation that Congress enacted in 1984 and 1988. Previously, Schwab served as a Trade Policy Officer in the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. Her first job was as an agricultural trade negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Ambassador Schwab is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA). She previously served on the Board of Visitors of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Board of Trustees of the Council for Excellence in Government and the National Selection Committee for the Innovations in American Government Awards program. She holds a B.A. in Political Economy from Williams College, a Masters in Development Policy from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in Public Administration and International Business from The George Washington University.