OCTOBER

Inside Washington by Janet Kopenhaver, AWPA Director of Government Affairs

TRADE

• House Members Urge Action on China Currency

A bipartisan group of 87 members of Congress signed and sent a letter to the White House urging President Bush to address China's undervalued exchange rate. Noting the President's words that China has got to deal with their currency, the signers expressed disappointment at the Administration's lack of support for a draft Section 301 petition prepared by the Fair Currency Alliance. Taking that into account, the letter urged the President to press China for meaningful and expeditious currency reform and stressed their desire to work with him in a bipartisan fashion to end the Chinese policy of currency undervaluation.

For the Administration's part, following the G-7 Finance Ministers' meeting in Washington, US Treasury Secretary Snow stated the US and other members of the group of major industrialized nations want China to move more quickly to adopt a flexible currency exchange rate. This followed a meeting with Chinese officials who were invited to attend the G-7 meetings for the first time. Snow stated that while China has made progress in reforms leading to market-based currency, the Administration is not satisfied with the pace of movement.

• DR Added to CAFTA

USTR Robert Zoellick signed the agreement adding the Dominican Republic to the countries covered by the US-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). The CAFTA also includes Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. With the addition of the Dominican Republic, the agreement covers the second largest US export market in Latin America - exceeding Brazil and only behind Mexico.

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