State Department Official Urges Passage of "Fast Track"

15 October 1997

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Undersecretary of State Stuart Eizenstat is encouraging Congress to approve so-called "fast-track" procedures for implementing trade agreements.

Speaking Oct. 14 at The Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law, he said:

"We are now at a major decision-point here at home which will determine whether we can continue our leadership in the Free Trade Area of the Americas, Latin America, indeed the world. Fast-track would require the Congress to consider trade agreements expeditiously, and subject them to a straight yes-or-no vote, without subjecting them to amendments."

Eizenstat added that "fast-track provides reassurance to our trading partners that delicately balance and arduously negoated agreements will not be undone by Congressional amendments or inordinate delay."

"Without fast-track, no country will negotiate seriously with us. Without fast-track, there will be no hemispheric trade. A top Brazilian official was quoted last month in the Wall Street Journal: 'No fast-track, no concrete negotiations.'"

Eisenstat's address was part of the law school's centennial lecture series. His speech, "A Latin American Trade Policy for the 21st Century," was attended by ambassadors and representatives from Argentina, Costa Rica, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras and Cuba.

For more information on the law school's future lectures and seminars, contact 100years@law.cua.edu, or call 202-319-6081.

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Revised: 27 October 1997

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