With the U.S. presidential election approaching, the leaders have been exchanging ideas by phone to break the logjam over the 6-year-old talks, which would liberalize world trade across a broad spectrum of goods and services.
Agriculture Secretary Ed Madigan will meet with EC Farm Commissioner Ray MacSharry, who has been trying for several days to arrange face-to-face talks. It appears the Europeans, with the exception of the French, are more eager for a quick agreement than the Americans. Madigan told the British Broadcasting Corp. earlier in the week that President Bush has told him to ignore Election Day as a deadline and to work for a ”fair and fruitful”
agreement for American farmers.
The Europeans, however, may well prefer to wrap up an agreement with the Bush administration rather than wait for the possibility of a Clinton victory, and the uncertainties of a new administration.
A General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, as the pact is known, would cut tariffs worldwide in agriculture and 14 other sectors and could pump up to $200 billion a year into the global economy.
MacSharry and Madigan are to have dinner on Sunday and begin formal talks Monday morning. EC sources estimate the prospects of a final agreement being struck during the meeting at 50-50.
In Washington, a spokesman for Madigan was less optimistic about an immediate conclusion.