The Foreign Service Journal, May 2003

allows us to go into markets we wouldn’t have been able to go into on our own.” “We have a high degree of respect for the profession- als of FAS,” Schlect tells the Journal . “Their trade policy work is vital. With traditional trade barriers coming down, countries come up with technical barriers. Having FAS there to tell which are legitimate is really valuable to us.” FAS is also responsible both for participating in the negotiation of new agreements and monitoring compli- ance with existing agreements. On the agency’s plate now are negotiations for a Free Trade Area of the Americas, bilateral trade agreements with Singapore and Chile, and free trade agreements with Central America and Southern Africa. FAS is also monitoring both China’s and Taiwan’s compliance with the WTO’s terms of accession. Since the U.S. Trade Representative is generally the lead agency in such negotiations, FAS has people detailed there. “We definitely have a seat at the table,” says a senior FAS official. Farm-trade liberalization is a key agenda item in the Doha Round of world trade talks. Complicating the negotiating work of FAS is the fact that food carries an unusual cultural and political weight in many societies. Farmers, even when only a small per- centage of a country’s population, often have considerable political clout. Even in the U.S., notes a senior FAS offi- cial, “we have some sectors that are very, very difficult — sugar, for example.” Though “we all recognize that food is different from cars,” says FAS Administrator Terpstra, and “we believe in free trade, agriculture has lagged behind other trade areas.” Genetically Modified? Some Say No In terms of monitoring trade agreements, says FSO Steve Huete, the “hottest topic is sanitary and phytosani- tary [SPS] issues.” (That’s animal and plant health and safety.) “Countries can’t use tariffs to keep out trade,” explains Huete, so they raise health issues instead. “Occasionally there are legitimate differences on risk F O C U S M A Y 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 29