LONDON (AFP) — Foreign Secretary David Miliband is to urge Washington to remain committed to free trade in comments published in Monday's Financial Times as he begins a five-day visit to the United States.
The paper quoted Miliband as saying that Washington must remain committed to global trade "in a very fundamental way" after Democratic Party hopefuls for the US presidency both spoke against free trade pacts.
"American internationalism has been a feature of all periods of global progress," he told the business daily before heading to the United States where he will meet advisers to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, among others.
"It's absolutely clear that the world needs an America that's engaged with the global trading system in a very fundamental, very committed way. The problem is not too much trade, the problem is too little trade.
"That is our position as a British government, and it will be articulated clearly and consistently."
Both Clinton and Obama have promised to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) if they become president, focusing particularly on clauses concerning working conditions and the environment.
NAFTA, created under Bill Clinton in 1994, created the largest trading bloc in the world by eliminating import tariffs on goods circulating among partners Canada, the United States and Mexico.
But unions claim it has caused the loss of millions of US jobs, hitting workers who are also now struggling with an economic slowdown.
The foreign secretary's stance comes after criticisms from Canada and the EU's trade commissioner Peter Mandelson, who attacked US presidential hopefuls -- but not by name -- for appearing to want to disengage from globalisation.
"It's a mirage and they know it and it's very irresponsible, in my view, to pretend to people that we can disengage from international trade, we can create barriers around our economy and be surprised when people retaliate by doing the same," he told BBC television earlier this month.
"Where's that going to lead us? It's going to lead us into a vicious spiral of 'beggar thy neighbour' policies which will take us decades back in terms of trade growth and rising living standards that we've seen in the world."
Miliband is to visit the United Nations in New York for talks on Myanmar and Afghanistan, will give a speech in Washington on "the dilemmas of democracy" and hold talks with his US counterpart, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
He then heads to California for discussions on climate change with venture capitalists and the re-emergence of China as a world power, he wrote on his weblog on Sunday.
He said he would be promoting the message that the world needs US engagement in areas like combating Islamist extremism, trade, climate change and tackling world poverty.
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