Bilateral Pacts Also Goal for US

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick told the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit Tuesday that he is launching a flurry of trade negotiations with six Latin American countries -- saying a hemisphere-wide pact remains the lofty goal "but not the only one.''

The sudden move to bilateral talks was seen by some as a high-pressure effort to bring a reluctant Brazil and other countries into the FTAA fold, or risk isolation from the lucrative American market.

Zoellick announced independent negotiations with the Dominican Republic, Panama, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, with most scheduled to start next year.

But the real focus of this week's talks -- agreeing on an agenda to create an FTAA by January 2005 -- was still stuck late Tuesday in negotiations.

Deputy trade ministers face a critical deadline today to deliver a draft declaration in Miami. The declaration will either propel the trade talks to a successful finish by the end of 2004 or be so vague that it leaves the next step unclear.

STRATEGY DEBATED

But some questioned whether Zoellick's strategy of pursuing many independent agreements will energize the FTAA talks.

''It's an experiment that continues around the world,'' said Walter Spak, a trade law specialist with White & Case. "Whether it's successful or not, the jury is still out.''

Zoellick has long pursued a number of tacks: multilateral agreements, which cover many nations; regional pacts; and bilateral ones, which are between two countries. For instance, the country has free-trade agreements with Mexico, Canada and Chile and is pursuing them with Central American countries.

IMPASSE WITH BRAZIL

The FTAA process hit a major stumbling block this year when Brazil and the United States began sniping over several critical issues.

Last week, Zoellick and his Brazilian counterpart, Celso Amorim, worked out a five-page declaration that would allow a country like Brazil to pick and choose which commitments to make. The deal would allow Brazil to opt out of the FTAA on intellectual property rights, new laws protecting foreign investors, opening services markets or changing government purchasing practices.

But a group of nations, in particular Canada and Chile, have objected to the approach. Brazil and the United States refused to back down, creating an impasse.

''Those paragraphs cannot be changed or modified,'' said chief Brazilian negotiator Luiz Felipe Macedo Soares, "otherwise this would all break down.''

Miami could have a significant stake in successful FTAA talks.

The concern is over an ''FTAA Lite,'' which could cover too few countries -- or administer too few trade issues -- to require a central headquarters.

GOOD ALTERNATIVE

'Basically what it says is, `OK, if we can't close a good FTAA, we'll close some good bilateral' '' treaties, said David Lewis, a Washington-based trade advisor attending this week's FTAA business forums. `Before you know it, you may not have an FTAA. But what you have in the bilaterals may be equal to an FTAA.''

According to a study by Enterprise Florida, the state's development agency, an FTAA with a secretariat based in Miami would create 89,000 jobs in the state.

But the primary driver of the job creation is the headquarters.

Although some trade organizations do have large headquarters, others have no independent offices.

The North American Free Trade Agreement -- which covers Canada, Mexico and the United States -- is handled by existing bureaucracies in the respective capitals.

But some questioned whether the FTAA movement is at risk of losing its focus.

The influential U.S. Chamber of Commerce, while welcoming Zoellick's bilateral announcements, warned that they "must not distract from the effort to complete the Free Trade Area of the Americas, which remains our top hemispheric priority.''