U.S. TO PRESS "VAST" SERVICE AGENDA AT WTO

U.S. TO PRESS “VAST” SERVICE AGENDA AT WTO

   U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said Wednesday that the
U.S. will urge its trading partners to open "a vast range of industries" at
a World Trade Organization meeting the U.S. will host later this year.
   "The costs to the world of closed markets in services … have never
been more clear than they are today," Barshefsky said. A report issued
Wednesday by the International Trade Commission said the U.S. needs to
increase sales of software, stocks, and services to foreigners to keep its
trade deficit from increasing.
   Barshefsky said the U.S.’s focus on opening health product,
telecommunications and finance industries at the WTO meeting to be held
Seattle in November.
   Service trades accounted for 77.2 percent of U.S. jobs in 1998. The rest
were in manufacturing (19.3 percent), mining and agriculture (3.5 percent).