U.S. Senate Approves US-Oman Free Trade Agreement

The U.S. Senate on Sept. 19, 2006 overwhelmingly approved legislation to implement the U.S. free trade agreement with Oman, clearing the way for the president to sign the bill and for the agreement to enter into force.The agreement is the fifth between the United States and a Middle Eastern country -- after Israel, Jordan, Morocco, and Bahrain -- and is part of President Bush's plan, announced in May 2003, to create a U.S.-Middle East Free Trade Area (MEFTA) by 2013.

The U.S. Administration, however, disregarded the constitutional authority of Congress to regulate international trade by rejecting a forced-labor amendment to the implementing legislation that was approved unanimously by the committee on June 28.The amendment was designed to deny trade benefits to imports of products made with forced labor. These issues will come to the fore as the expiration of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) in the middle of next year (2007) draws near. It will be high time that Congress take a hard look at the Administration trade policy.