U.S. exports to the most populous Arab country include wheat, corn, soybeans and aircraft. Among the imports are petroleum, petroleum products, natural gas, textiles, apparel, steel, cement and cotton.
The Egyptian trade minister said that Egypt wanted to double trade with the U.S. in the next four years but was not discussing a trade agreement.
"This is not a bad or negative thing at all," Rachid said. "It is simply the result of recognition by both sides that this is not necessarily the way to boost trade."
He added that although the U.S. signed trade agreements with several countries in the region, including Jordan, Bahrain, Oman and Morocco, their total trade with the U.S. reached only around $2 billion.
Dittrich said a trade agreement would be politically unlikely for a Congress more interested in protecting U.S. industry than promoting cheaper goods from abroad.
"Trade protectionism and 'Buy American products' is a symptom of the mood of Congress . . . and skepticism of trade, and the current U.S. administration has to make efforts to counter this skepticism," he said. "They have to come up with a strategy of how they're going to engage with Congress on the issue of free trade before they engage with the rest of the world."
A better approach than a trade agreement, Dittrich said, would be to expand a program under which goods from specified zones in Egypt already enjoy preferential terms in the U.S. market provided that a certain percentage of Israeli goods are used.
Dittrich said business relations with Egypt and the Middle East also would strengthen the Arab world's understanding of the U.S.
"There's a huge population in Egypt and the Middle East who are very young people, born in the last 15 to 20 years. And in the 15-to-20-year period, there's been a lot of controversial and unfortunate images of the role of the U.S. in the world," he said.
"So by engaging in business relations, we can show these young people a different side of the U.S. And I think that's what President Obama is doing by speaking in Cairo and addressing the Muslim world."
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sherine.elmadany@latimes.com
