EU's Mandelson urges new Congress to back WTO talks

[Ron Burgundy]

Reuters - EU trade chief Peter Mandelson on Friday urged the Democrats, who this week won control of the U.S. Congress, to work across party lines to support a new round of world trade talks.

Democrats, by tradition less enthusiastic about free trade than Republicans, have voted against a number of bilateral market-opening deals negotiated by the administration of President George W. Bush.

The election campaign had put on hold efforts by trade negotiators to revive the floundering world trade talks, which the European Union among others says will reduce poverty in developing nations.

"I hope that we will now see more bipartisanship on trade matters, because the world cannot complete its trade round without full U.S. engagement and contribution to a successful outcome," Mandelson told Reuters on the sidelines of a forum in the Chinese capital.

He appeared to echo sentiment within the United States, where Rep. Charles Rangel (news, bio, voting record), a New York Democrat poised to become chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means committee, has said he wants to pursue a bipartisan approach to trade policy.

But the EU trade commissioner also acknowledged that the shift in power could complicate efforts to relaunch the talks, which were suspended in July after member states failed to agree on formulas for liberalizing farm trade.

"I think the instinct of the administration will remain anti-protectionist but clearly they will be dealing with political forces and representation of opinion in Congress which will have an influence on what they are able to do," he said.

Without a breakthrough soon, many trade experts believe it could be years before a deal is reached, in part because the Bush administration's authority to "fast-track" any agreement is due to expire in July 2007.

But some analysts have suggested President Bush might be able to persuade the Democrats to support a new world trade deal by working with them on issues such as increased assistance for displaced workers.