Inside U.S. Trade
September 7, 2007
Vol. 25 No. 35
President Bush and Australian Prime Minister John Howard this week signed a defense trade cooperation treaty similar to the one signed earlier this year between the U.S. and United Kingdom, easing export controls on certain munitions items. A State Department official said the Bush Administration hopes to agree to implementing arrangements within six months, which will enable the Administration to seek Senate ratification.
The U.S.-Australia Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty is similar to the U.S.-UK Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty, which Bush and then-UK Prime Minister Tony Blair signed in June. Howard on Sept. 4 told reporters the treaty would allow Australians to enter the U.S. defense technology market "on the same basis" as UK companies.
Specifically, the treaty with Australia will lift International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) license requirements for U.S. Munitions List items to a trusted set of Australian companies and the Australian government, for trade related to certain government projects, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs Dan Price said in a Sept. 5 press briefing in Sydney.
However, many of the details are left to the implementing arrangements, which are still to be negotiated. Congressional aides this week said they had not yet received a copy of the treaty, but in the case of the U.S.-UK treaty, the implementing arrangements are expected to define the scope of exceptions to the U.S.' right of refusal for re-exports (Inside U.S. Trade, July 20).
Congressional aides said the Administration did not notify Congress of the treaty until shortly before the signing, and that the treaty would avoid House consideration because only the Senate must ratify a treaty, as the UK treaty did. One of these aides said Congress first learned of the treaty from the press before the Administration informed Congress of its plans, which was also the case for the UK treaty.
Separately, a UK private-sector source said the UK treaty's implementing arrangements may be concluded in October.
