Let Them Eat Tuna - Column

The U.S. Senate passed the most far-reaching international trade legislation in years yesterday. It included the vaunted "fast-track" trade promotion authority, renewal and expansion of trade preferences for some Latin American nations and an effective end to what might be called, "the tuna war."

The fish fight, waged until the very end by a broad range of interests, ended somewhat unceremoniously when Congressional negotiators agreed that tuna from Ecuador packaged in pouches could be sold duty-free in the United States, but not tuna in cans.

But the real story was the events leading up to the agreement--events that offer an instructive insight into how Washington works and how little U.S.-Latin American trade may change despite passage of the much-heralded trade law package.

In principle, fast track seeks to minimize the kind of insider, special-interest and sometimes crippling deal-making that took place during the Congressional deliberations. The White House will now be able to send to the Capitol free trade plans that Congress can either accept or decline but definitely not change. That is a process that many in Latin America had coveted as the easiest route to U.S. markets.

But considering the narrow margins with which the trade package was approved, particularly in the House, future free trade accords likely to be approved by Congress will be harder than ever. And Latin America may soon find out that U.S., Asian and other interests may again and again get in their way--just as in the tuna war.

These skirmishes began early last year, when Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) introduced legislation to extend the 1991 Andean Trade Preference Act due to expire last December. The bill added new products, including tuna packaged in various forms, to a list of duty-free exports from four Andean countries to compensate them for their anti-drug efforts.

The House approved the plan in November, but not without strong objections from the non-voting Congressional delegate from American Samoa, who argued that its passage would "wipe out" the economy of his Pacific island. Two of the top three U.S.-based tuna producers joined him in opposition.

Chicken of the Sea, whose main canneries are located in Thailand, argued that its smaller operations in Samoa would be adversely affected. Bumble Bee Seafoods, which has canneries in California and Puerto Rico, spoke up too, while the government of the Philippines, citing its efforts to fight terrorism, fought against giving other states an advantage.

The only U.S. firm in favor of the change was top-ranked StarKist. It has a cannery in American Samoa, but is also affiliated with canneries in Ecuador, which is by far the largest tuna producer in the Andes. As a result of the pouched-tuna-only decision, StarKist will not come out as ahead as it had hoped, but will still gain some advantages since it had already started using the new packaging system in Ecuador.

The Solomonic decision that granted a partial victory to Andean tuna was hailed by some as an opportunity for Ecuador to develop a niche in the tuna market without hurting Asian and U.S. firms.

Yet others felt that Ecuador was dealt a bad blow, since pouched tuna currently makes up at most 6 percent of the U.S. market. Ecuadorian wages are low but not as low as those from southern Asia, the source of more than two-thirds of the tuna consumed in United States last year, and probably for years to come.

How much is the process--or the outcome--of special interest lobbying likely to change in the new world of "fast-track?" Very little, according to several who followed the negotiations. In fact, the web of interests that converged on Capitol Hill will probably just move to the White House and could become even more entangled.

In the end, Latin America may learn that free trade's promise of economic prosperity won't come at the expense of many other national interests and geopolitical priorities. And what about those who hope that opening U.S. markets could help bolster the stability of the Andean region? Let them eat bagged tuna--if they can find some.

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