Chemical industry wary of tariff concessions

Abstract

Recently the new omnibus trade bill and the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement have captured the spotlight on the world trade stage. Hidden in the shadows has been the Uruguay round of multilateral trade negotiations. The Uruguay round, the eighth such round of trade negotiations held under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade (GATT), was formally launched at a GATT ministerial meeting in Punta del Este, Uruguay, in 1986. It is scheduled to continue through 1990. The advisers who shape U.S. chemical industry trade policy, however, certainly haven't forgotten about the Uruguay trade talks. Realizing that GATT will hold a midterm review of the talks' progress and prospects in Montreal next month, Dexter F. Baker, chairman and chief executive officer of Air Products & Chemicals and head of the Office of the Chemical Industry Trade Adviser (OCITA), recently shot off a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Clayton K. Yeutter reemphasizing the industry's ...