US says Moroccan trade talks a signal to Muslim world

The US began negotiating a free-trade accord with Morocco to "send a powerful signal" to the Muslim world that it will embrace nations willing to open their markets, said US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick.

US companies including Boeing Co, Citigroup Inc, Exxon Mobil Corp and Intel Corp are backing the negotiations, saying Morocco represents a market for their goods and services and can serve as a bridge to the Muslim world.

Morocco, the first Muslim nation to publicly condemn the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the US, would be the second Muslim country to reach a trade agreement with the US, following Jordan, a constitutional monarchy like Morocco.

"A free-trade agreement with Morocco will expand our already strong relationship with a key economic and political partner in the Middle East," said Zoellick. The negotiations show the US commitment to "the development of tolerant, open, prosperous societies," he said.

Trade between the two nations totaled only US$736 million in 2001, making the North African country the US's 79th-largest trading partner. Commerce grew to US$926 million in the first 11 months of last year after the George W. Bush administration announced early last year its intention to negotiate a free-trade accord.

"Free trade with Middle Eastern countries such as Morocco is strategically critical to the US and to the development of economically sound and stable nations in that region," said John Castellani, president of the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers representing Caterpillar Inc, International Paper Co and dozens of other companies.

Castellani said a trade accord with Morocco would promote economic growth in both countries and stimulate US exports in sectors ranging from telecommunications to transportation to energy.

Parts of the agreement governing patents and copyrights, dispute settlement and market access would be "an important catalyst for Morocco's commitment to good governance including transparency and the rule of business law," said Castellani, whose group represents more than 10 million US workers and US$3.7 trillion in annual revenue.

The US has recently concluded free-trade agreements with Chile and Singapore, following Congress's decision in August to expand President George W. Bush's trade powers and permit him to negotiate accords lawmakers can't amend.

Those agreements will be sent to Congress for ratification this year.

The Bush administration has also begun talks with five Central American countries and five southern African nations, and will soon start negotiations with Australia, all as part of a strategy Zoellick calls "competitive liberalization."

That strategy is to use two-way commercial agreements to pressure other countries into joining larger free-trade areas, such as the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas among 34 Western Hemisphere nations, and to support global market-opening talks at the WTO.