Zoellick wants India, China to open markets

Wednesday, 10 March 2004, 20:30 IST
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WASHINGTON: US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick has dismissed India's complaints about proposed anti-outsourcing legislation here and said that India, China and Brazil should further open their markets. "The Indians have absolutely no right to complain because they don't belong to the government procurement code (in the World Trade Organisation, which sets obligations for making procurement deals transparent)," he said. "And, frankly, they're not that liberal on the services side," Zoellick added. He was testifying before the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday. Zoellick spoke at length about outsourcing. While describing the issue as complex, he also criticised India, which is attracting some outsourced US jobs, for maintaining "one of the most closed economies in the world". He wanted developing countries like India, China and Brazil to open their markets in order to sustain support for open markets in the US and elsewhere. "If countries around the world that are emerging economic powers want to get the benefit of the system, they're going to have to contribute to the system." During the question and answer session after the testimony, Zoellick defended free trade as a catalyst for growth, amid criticism from those who blame free trade for the loss of jobs overseas, a concern that is becoming a major issue in the US presidential race. He said that if the US closes its markets, others will close theirs to this country. The issue is of growing concern, as companies transfer jobs from the US to countries such as China and India, where labour is cheaper. The solution to this complex issue, he said, is faster growth in the world economy, to spur greater foreign sales of US products. He also defended globalisation, saying the US has been a beneficiary of free capital flows and open markets. "What is a challenge for us, and this is the exact thing that is happening right now, is that a more flexible system causes more upheaval for people. And that causes anxiety, and that's why some of the things we've talked about on the trade adjustment side are going to be important, if you're going to keep an open economy," he said. Zoellick said the US is doing well economically and will soon create a greater numbers of new jobs. He credited recent high US growth on rising worker productivity, openness to innovation, and open markets. The US official, who is just back from China, said Washington is pushing China to expand trade and crack down on the piracy of intellectual property. Zoellick said that even though the US has a huge trade deficit with China, American exports to that country are growing rapidly.
Source: IANS
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