Stephen Hadley and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab Hold a News Briefing

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Stephen Hadley and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab Hold a News Briefing

WHITE HOUSE NEWS BRIEFING, STRELNA, RUSSIA, AS RELEASED BY THE WHITE HOUSE

JULY 15, 2006

SPEAKERS: TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY

STEPHEN L. HADLEY, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER

AMBASSADOR SUSAN SCHWAB, U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

[*] SNOW: The Press Secretary is just putting in a cameo. The real stars are here. I will introduce, and to the extent that I -- I may be jumping in from time to time for comment, but we have National Security Advisor Steve Hadley, and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab to answer any questions about what's going on here or around the world. And without further ado, Steve Hadley.

HADLEY: I'll be very brief, initially, and then pass it on to Susan. The President, obviously, met with President Putin today. They had a fairly extensive, almost two-hour session with just the two of them and their Foreign Ministers and National Security Advisors. That was followed by the press event, which you all saw, and then a rather large, expanded lunch.

I think the two Presidents gave you a very good summary of their conversations. I'll really let that stand, answer any questions folks have about it. The one thing that was done at the lunch was that Ambassador Schwab -- Susan Schwab did talk a little bit, along with her counterpart, Minister Gref, about where we were on the U.S.- Russian bilateral WTO negotiations. And we thought we might start off with -- Susan, if you would, just give folks a little summary of where we stand on those negotiations. And then we can take your questions.

SCHWAB: Thank you. We made a lot of progress in these negotiations in the last couple of days. These are tough negotiations, as they are when you've gotten through the first 90 percent of the deal and you've got the last 10 percent or so to address. We've made significant progress and, in fact, have virtually closed the industrial tariff side; virtually closed the services side; excellent progress on intellectual property rights; and very close on agricultural iss...

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