US postpones trade talks with UAE

Associated Press | March 10, 2006

The United States and United Arab Emirates postponed free-trade talks but remain "committed to making progress" on an agreement, a US administration official said.

The announcement came after a firestorm over a state-owned Dubai company's aborted takeover of US ports that ended with the firm's decision to sell the US part of its operations.

No date has been set for the next round of talks, which had been scheduled for next week in the UAE, a US official said.

"The US and UAE are strongly committed to making progress on our FTA (free-trade agreement) negotiations," said Neena Moorjani, spokeswoman for the office of the US Trade Representative.

"In order to get an agreement that both sides can successfully implement, we need additional time to prepare for the next round of negotiations. We continue to work on our negotiating issues. This is not unusual. Just in the past few months, we've postponed rounds with Ecuador three times, Panama twice and Colombia once."

The announcement came after Dubai Ports World, which is owned by the United Arab Emirates government, said Thursday it was selling its newly acquired US port operations.

That was aimed at defusing a political row and spared President George W. Bush from a showdown with angry US lawmakers.

Bush had threatened to veto any bid by Congress to block the deal, under which DP World was taking control of ports in Baltimore, New York, Miami, New Jersey, New Orleans and Philadelphia after its purchase of Britain's P and O.

But a huge momentum had built up in Congress that threatened to override any veto by Bush, as lawmakers from both the major parties seized upon an explosive row to flag their national-security credentials.

Some analysts said the flap could have implications for US trade and investment.

Last modified March 10, 2006