GAO recommends better staff management for free-trade agreements

GAO recommends better staff management for free-trade agreements    A U.S. government’s watchdog agency has recommended that the Trade Representative’s office and related agencies involved in free-trade negotiations do a better job at allocating staff and resources to the work.
   “As more FTA’s are contemplated, existing mechanisms may prove inadequate to the task of aggressively pursuing a bilateral FTA agenda while remaining engaged in regional and multilateral forums,” the General Accounting Office said in a report released this week.
   The Trade Representative agreed with the GAO report’s finding that the intensifying trade negotiations agenda requires staff management improvements. However, the Trade Representative said the problems stem from the amount of resources available to the agency.