NAM Urging Five New U.S. FTAs

Whoever succeeds Robert B. Zoellick as U.S. trade negotiator -- Zoellick is moving to the State Department as deputy secretary -- will be pressed by the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Manufacturers to negotiate free-trade agreements (FTAs) between the U.S. and each of five other countries: Egypt, India, Malaysia, New Zealand and South Korea. "Expanding trade with these countries will benefit Amercan manufacturers, both large and small," asserts Arnold Allemang, a member of Dow Chemical Co.'s board of directors and the chair of NAM's international economic policy committee.

The U.S. currently has bilateral FTAs with six nations, not including Canada and Mexico. And among pending U.S. regional free-trade pacts is CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement.