House Approves U.S.-Oman Free Trade Pact

[cal04]

The House on Thursday joined the Senate in approving a free trade agreement with Oman, adding the Arabian Gulf state to a list of Middle Eastern countries that have lowered barriers to U.S. exports.

The 221-205 vote gives congressional approval to the trade treaty that would immediately end all duties on trade in industrial and consumer goods and give American farmers duty-free access to Oman's market for 87 percent of their products.

The outcome was in doubt until the last moment, when several Democrats who had held back cast votes for the measure.

``My decision,'' said Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., one of the late voters, ``is not an endorsement of the Bush administration's trade policy.''

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5964917,00.html

[liberal N proud]

1. Now they can sell the ports to Dubai...

Rep. John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat who serves on the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee, said the pact would allow companies such as Dubai Ports World to acquire U.S. port operations by establishing a shell company in Oman.

"If Dubai Ports World set up in Oman and then attempts to acquire a U.S. port operation and Congress intervenes ... (the Oman-U.S. Free Trade Agreement) would empower Dubai Ports World to drag the United States before UN or World Bank tribunals to demand we compensate the firm" for lost profits, Murtha said.

Dubai Ports World, based in Oman's neighbor the United Arab Emirates, had to abandon its planned purchase of terminal operation rights at major U.S. ports earlier this year after it ignited a political firestorm in the United States.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/18/AR2006071801195_pf.html