On Zoellick, CAFTA, and...hey, here's Mandy!

Well, not surprisingly, Mandelson -- true to form as EU Trade Commissioner -- is calling for the US to nominate their trade person, short of the Doha round of trade talks failing come Hong Kong in Dec 2005:

"Last month, Peter Mandelson, the EU's chief trade negotiator, warned that a serious breakdown in the Doha talks was a possibility unless rapid progress was made. He urged the Bush administration to quickly appoint a replacement for Zoellick"

Meanwhile, the article provides some interesting pointers:

During Zoellick's tenure, Washington completed free trade agreements with Singapore, Chile, Australia and Morocco. The U.S. is also targeting free-trade pacts with India, Panama, the Southern African Customs Union and a United Emirates and Oman.

Josette Shiner, deputy U.S. Trade Representative is in consideration for the post. Gary Edson, a former White House economic and national security adviser is also seen as a candidate.

Not that any of this domestic stuff has much to do with Mandelson really, but still, a re-united US-EU position at the WTO will do plenty to wreck things for the AU-LDCs-ACP group.

from: http://www.investors.com/breakingnews.asp?journalid=26338538&brk=1