U.S. Perspective on the WTO Ministerial Meeting.(Alan Larson, Under Secretary of Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs)(Transcript)

Statement by Acting Under Secretary for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs, Washington, DC, November 22, 1999.

It'll be just over a week from now that the Seattle World Trade Ministerial will begin. This afternoon I'd like to highlight briefly the perspective of the United States Government on this very important meeting.

I think the starting point is that world trade has been a real driver of growth and prosperity ever since the end of World War II. This has been facilitated by a series of trade negotiations that have opened markets around the world. Certainly, we in the United States realize we've benefited greatly from this market-opening exercise, but we also know that hundreds of millions of people all around the world have been lifted out of poverty and have joined the middle class in part because of the success in opening up international trade.

At the Seattle WTO meeting, we intend to launch a new round of trade negotiations that can extend …