PRESS
RELEASE: PRESS/TPRB/226
16 January 2004
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: UNITED STATES
A largely open economy but barriers persist in important areas
The United States has overcome several shocks since its last Trade Policy Review in 2001, helped by the contribution of its open and transparent trade regime to the highly efficient U.S. economy, according to a report on the trade policies and practices of the United States released 16 January by the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ Secretariat.
Recent U.S. macroeconomic
policy has been directed, increasingly successfully, towards recovering
and sustaining growth, with benefits to the global economy, including
through trade transmission. But barriers to market access persist in a
few, however important, areas: in particular, assistance to selected
activities such as agriculture, steel, and textiles and clothing has
burdened U.S. consumers, taxpayers and trade.
The report notes that during this period, the United States has taken
further steps to liberalize its trade regime on MFN (Most Favoured
Nation) as well as preferential bases. While acknowledging that the
expanding U.S. preferential network could help draw partners into the
multilateral system, the report emphasizes that care should be taken to
avoid distracting resources away from it and that vested interests are
not created that complicate multilateral negotiations. The report also
discusses the new security considerations in the aftermath of the
September 2001 attacks, and stresses that the new U.S. security-related
policies and practices should not become unnecessary trade or investment
barriers.
The report also expresses some concern about the “twin deficits” and
goes on to note that the presently perceived large bilateral trade
imbalances that are now part of the U.S. current account situation could
give rise to protectionist sentiment.
> (MS Word format)
The °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ report, along with a policy statement by the Government of the United States, will be the basis for the seventh Trade Policy Review (TPR) of the United States by the Trade Policy Review Body of the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ on 14 and 16 January 2004.
The following documents are available in MS Word format.
- Secretariat report
> Contents and summary observations (12 pages, 97KB)
> Recent economic developments (14 pages, 447KB)
> Developments in trade and investment policy (17 pages, 134KB)
> Trade policies and practices by measure (68 pages, 625KB)
> Trade policies by sector (69 pages, 742KB)
> Appendix tables (26 pages, 615B)
- Government report (32 pages,
198KB)
- Chairperson's concluding remarks
- Minutes
of the meeting are available approximately 6 weeks after the meeting.
Note back to top
Trade Policy Reviews are an exercise, mandated in the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ agreements, in which member countries’ trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals. Significant developments that may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored. For each review, two documents are prepared: a policy statement by the government of the member under review, and a detailed report written independently by the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ Secretariat. These two documents are then discussed by the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ’s full membership in the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB). These documents and the proceedings of the TPRB’s meetings are published shortly afterwards.
Print copies of previous TPR publications are available for sale from the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ Secretariat, Centre William Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, 1211 Genève 21 and through the .
The TPR publications are also available from our co-publisher Bernan Press, 4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391, United States.
Schedule of forthcoming reviews back to top
Gambia: 4 and 6 of February
2004
Sri Lanka: 3 and 5 of March 2004
Rwanda: 10 and 12 May 2004