U.S. Chamber of Commerce Tones Down Trade Agenda

(Wall Street Journal – Martin Vaughan)

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, usually one of the most ardent lobbying forces for new free trade agreements, has injected a dose of realism into its expectations for the tenure of President-elect Barack Obama.

The Chamber’s recommendations for the trade agenda under the next president, released Tuesday, eschew a narrow focus on approving controversial trade deals, and instead seek progress on a broad range of fronts. That includes supporting a worker assistance bill early in the next Congress, expanding aid and one-way trade benefits to poor countries, and beefing up export assistance to small and medium-size firms.

“This is our agenda for 2009 and beyond; it’s not an agenda for 2001,” retired Lt. Gen. Daniel Christman, the Chamber’s senior vice president for international affairs, said at a press conference. While the Chamber still will work to pass trade deals, the agenda reflects “the holistic way the Chamber is trying to deal with the question of international engagement,” Christman said.

The Chamber’s trade agenda has faltered over the past several years as trade deals with Colombia, Panama and South Korea have stalled in Congress, and the Doha round of global trade talks has careened off course. Obama has given business groups that support the deals little reason for optimism; on the campaign trail, he opposed the Colombia and South Korea pacts, and talked of punishing China for alleged unfair trade practices.

In the short term, the Chamber will focus on helping congressional Democrats pass the worker assistance legislation, in the hopes that doing so will help neutralize political opposition to trade deals.

“I think we’re at a point where it’s important to have trade adjustment assistance on its own merits….it just makes good sense,” said John Murphy, U.S. Chamber vice president for international affairs. “Obviously we hope that will lay a foundation of goodwill that will help us move forward on other trade agreements.” Read more here.