Port Nonsense

[Cyclefrance]

Trade talks scuttled after DPW fiasco
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REPERCUSSIONS are already being felt from the US Congress forcing Dubai Ports World to dispose of its newly acquitted American terminal holdings. Only hours after DPW announced plans to transfer ownership of the US contracts that it bought as part of the global P&O Ports takeover, plans for the next round of talks on a bi-lateral US-UAE free trade agreement were scuttled. The US Trade Representative said on Friday that more time is needed to prepare for the fifth round of talks in light of the DPW fiasco. That announcement came as President Bush told newspaper editors that blocking the DPW deal could have a chilling effect on foreign investment, a comment echoed in remarks by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "If I were in the shipping industry, the maritime industry, the cargo industry ... I would be concerned about measures that would strangle business and put workers out of work in this country," Chertoff told the Financial Times. Meanwhile, four Republican politicians from Georgia were in Dubai over the weekend to mend fences. Senators Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss and congressmen Phil Gingrey and John Linder all said after their talks that the Emirates would remain a strong ally. "Our countries have been friends and will continue to be friends," Chambliss said after meeting with DPW executives and the UAE vice president.
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