Free Trade Agreements with the U.S.

Former United States Trade Representatives Charlene Barshefsky, William Brock, William Eberle, Clayton Yeutter and Carla Hills (L) analyzed U.S. trade policy on Friday, Feb. 13, at a seminar hosted by CSIS. Speakers examined the Doha round, agriculture, U.S.-China trade relations, U.S. efforts to conclude regional and bilateral FTA's, the Free Trade Area of the Americas and outsourcing. "This is a difficult time for U.S. trade policy," said Sherman Katz, CSIS Scholl Chair in International Business. "With both Doha and the Free Trade Area of the Americas barely moving, Congress in no mood to take up regional and bilateral free trade agreements while lost jobs are a major concern, and the just concluded U.S.-Australia FTA is so riddled with major exceptions to protect U.S. agriculture that it sends a gloomy signal about U.S. capacity to open our markets."