US may oppose Russia entering WTO

Washington: Four top US lawmakers have warned the Bush administration on Thursday that they would oppose a deal to let Russia into the World Trade Organisation unless Moscow opens its market to more farm imports and cracks down on intellectual property theft.

"We fully support the goal of Russia's accession to the WTO on strong, commercially meaningful terms. Every prospective WTO member, however, must demonstrate its willingness, ability and commitment to abide by WTO rules," they said in a letter to President George Bush.

"Unfortunately, Russia has not yet done so," they added.

Russia remains one of the few major economies outside the 149-member WTO, and its prolonged negotiations with the United States on joining the world trade body has become a sore spot in bilateral relations.

Moscow recently has accused Washington of raising new issues in the ongoing talks.

The letter signed by the top Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee and the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee demonstrates the pressure members of Congress are putting on the Bush administration to make significant progress in reducing Russian piracy and counterfeiting of American goods.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas and the two Democrats - Senator Max Baucus and Rep Charles Rangel - said they also want Moscow to stop using illegitimate food safety or animal and plant health rules to keep out US farm goods.

"As you know, Russia's accession to the WTO will require Congress to consider granting Russia Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR). Until Russia addresses these critical issues in a meaningful way, we cannot support granting PNTR to Russia," the lawmakers said.

A spokeswoman for the US Trade Representative's office, Neena Moorjani, said the Bush administration was already pushing hard on the issues lawmakers had raised.

"This administration negotiates high-standard deals and this one will be no different," she said.

Cold War Provision

Russia technically remains subject to a US Cold War trade provision known as Jackson-Vanik, which links the trade status of many communist or formerly communist countries to their human rights and emigration policies.

As a fellow WTO member, the United States would be required to lift that provision and permanently provide Russia the same degree of market access it provides every other WTO member.

Lawmakers view PNTR as the best tool they have to ensure Russia enters the WTO on acceptable terms.

In essence, a vote to lift PNTR would become a vote on the WTO accession deal the White House has negotiated.

US trade officials have expressed hope of reaching a bilateral WTO accession agreement with Russia by the time Moscow host a summit meeting of the Group of Eight leading world powers in July.

Moscow would then still need to finish a multilateral deal with all WTO member to bring its overall trade regime into line with global trade rule.

The four lawmakers said the United States should not sign a bilateral trade deal with Russia until Moscow takes meaningful steps to reduce intellectual property theft, such as closing www.allofmp3.com, which US officials have called the world's largest server-based pirate Web site, and establishes a proven record of abiding by science-based food import rules.