 | | 03-17-2004, 05:17 PM |
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| Colin Powell assures India that American jobs will keep coming
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/03/17/BUGUO 5M3RS1.DTL
Quote:
In India, Powell defends U.S. jobs policies
Secretary of state wants more trade in American goods
Steven R. Weisman, New York Times
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
New Delhi -- Secretary of State Colin Powell, encountering the other side of a tempestuous debate in the United States, sought to assure Indians that the Bush administration would not try to halt the outsourcing of high-technology jobs to their country.
In a round of conversations with Indian leaders and college students on Tuesday, Powell found that the issue of the transfer of American jobs to India is as emotional in India as in the United States.
But whereas American politicians have deplored the loss of such jobs, it is clear that the anxiety in India focuses on threats by some in Congress to try to stop the transfer by legislation.
"Do you support outsourcing or are you against it?" a questioner asked Powell in the session with students.
"Outsourcing is a natural effect of the global economic system and the rise of the Internet and broadband communications," Powell said. "You're not going to eliminate outsourcing. But at the same time, when you outsource jobs, it becomes a political issue in anybody's country."
The secretary told the students what he had said to reporters earlier in the day after a meeting with Foreign Minister Yaswant Sinha -- that an appropriate U.S. response to outsourcing is to press India and other countries to open up to imports of American investments, goods and services.
Powell emphasized that one purpose of his trip is to explain to India that because outsourcing has created a political problem in the United States, India could help by lowering its trade barriers.
The secretary emphasized that he was making this request not as a condition for the United States allowing outsourcing to continue, but because it is in India's interest to be more open.
At times, Powell sounded almost as if he were participating in the presidential campaign in the United States.
In February, Gregory Mankiw, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, stirred a political outcry when he called the outsourcing of jobs a long-term benefit for the economy. While Powell said on Tuesday that "it is the reality of 21st century economics that these kinds of dislocations will take place," he was quick to add that the Bush administration would work to train people for new jobs.
The White House endorsed Powell's comments.
"The secretary made clear in his remarks that we are concerned when Americans lose jobs, and we are focused on creating jobs for American workers, and the best way to do that is to open markets around the world, including in India," said Claire Buchan, a spokeswoman for the White House. "He also talked about the importance of training workers for the opportunities of the future."
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