US SAYS CANADIAN, ISRAELI PACTS SHOULD SPUR TRADE
  Trade Representative Clayton Yeutter
  said on Monday that the U.S. free trade agreements with Canada
  and Israel should help to pave the way for liberalizing the
  global trading system.
      He said the Canadian and Israeli pacts will not set back
  worldwide reform efforts under the General Agreement on Tariffs
  and Trade (GATT) as some critics feared but help them.
      The GATT talks began a year ago in Punta del Este, Uruguay
  to liberalize the global trading system and to include in it
  trade in agriculture and services such as banking.
      Yeutter made his remarks at a U.S.-Israeli trade meeting
  marking the second year of their bilateral accord. The
  Canadian-U.S. pact, signed by two sides two weeks ago, has yet
  been approved by the U.S. Congress and Canadian Parliament.
      The two free trade agreements (FTA) would gradually remove
  tariffs and other barriers to cross-border trade in goods and
  many services.
      Yeutter said in the aftermath of the Canadian and Israeli
  pacts "other countries have realized that if they want to
  continue to have access to the world's largest market, they had
  better get serious about improving the GATT."
      The pact with Israel, he said, is gradually increasing
  shipments both ways and the Canadian pact will substantially
  increase the gross national products in both countries.
      Yeutter also said the Canadian and Israeli pacts should
  serve as important precedents for progress in GATT.
      Yeutter said, "increasing trade is one of the keys to
  enhanced political and economic stability around the globe."
      He said, "a stronger GATT will enhance prosperity, not only
  for advanced industrial nations, but also for other countries
  that need to increase trade in order to better their standards
  of living."
      Yeutter added it was important not to risk the progress
  made in the Israeli and Canadian trade pacts by resorting to
  protectionism.
      He was referring to trade legislation pending in Congress
  that would force the United States to take retaliatory actions
  against nations with large trade surpluses with the United
  States if the countries practiced unfair trade.
      The legislation was prompted by a growing U.S. trade
  deficit that hit 156 billion dlrs last year and is still
  rising.
      Yeutter said the pressures for Congress to act were hard to
  resist, but the pending legislation would undermine President
  Reagan's efforts to liberalize the world trade.
      Yeutter renewed the threat of a White House veto.
      He said, "President Reagan will veto any bill that contains
  serious flaws, and I believe that veto would be sustained."
  

