Foreign countries continue to produce serous trade barriers for U.S. telecom carriers, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) officials said in a news conference Tues. Commenting on the newly released report “National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers,” the officials expressed particular concerns about significant interconnection rate increase proposed by the Japanese govt. They said the action of the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs & Posts & Telecom (MPHPT) was raising “serious questions about [Japan’s] impartiality and commitment to competition.”
US Trade Representative (USTR)
A U.S. Cabinet level position which serves as the President's primary representative, negotiator, and spokesperson regarding U.S. trade policy. The USTR heads the Office of the United States Trade Representative which develops and coordinates U.S. policy for international trade, commodities, and direct investments, as well as overseeing trade negotiations with other countries.
Piracy of software and entertainment might never be curtailed “unless someone is in charge to take the credit and take the blame,” House Appropriations Commerce, State, Justice Subcommittee Chmn. Wolf (R-Va.) said Tues. At field hearing in Loudoun County, Va., Wolf told panel of 5 federal officials that “it does seem someone should be responsible domestically and someone internationally” for both enforcement of piracy laws and education on topic. Those officials, representing Depts. of Commerce, State, Justice and the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), seemed less than enthusiastic. PTO Dir. James Rogan, who also is undersecy. of Commerce for intellectual property, told us after hearing that he wasn’t convinced federal govt. needed “an IP czar.” Wolf held hearing in his district at Va. campus of George Washington U. to emphasize importance of federal funding for intellectual property protection. Witnesses repeatedly focused on need for both enforcement and consumer education.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said Wed. he was asking World Trade Organization (WTO) for dispute settlement panel on complaint that Mexico hadn’t opened its cross-border telecom market to competitors. Bush Administration has said in last year that Mexico has made some progress in areas such as ensuring that competitors obtain local interconnection from incumbent Telmex. But serious concerns on international interconnection issues have remained unresolved. Request marks first time USTR under Zoellick has made such request to WTO. In Nov. 2000, U.S. asked WTO to convene dispute settlement panel on complaints about Mexico, process that wasn’t pursued when some progress was made. But USTR said its latest WTO request was focused on unresolved issue of U.S. carriers’ paying inflated charges because “Mexico has still not begun to dismantle its anticompetitive cross-border telecommunications regime.” Panel request is expected to be brought up at March 8 meeting of WTO’s dispute settlement body.
Settlement rates agreement reached late Wed. by Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex) and WorldCom provoked immediate opposition Thurs. from AT&T, which said proposed rates still were “well above” 4 cent per min. cost of providing service. AT&T, contending proposal didn’t conform with Mexico’s World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments, said it planned to oppose proposal at FCC. But deal appeared to have forestalled, for now, U.S. Trade Representative’s taking action by deadline today (Fri.) for carrying concerns over Mexico’s telecom market any further at WTO. USTR official told us U.S. still wasn’t backing down from earlier filing at WTO that would mark first step toward dispute resolution panel if govt. chose to take that route.