As long as developing countries continue to restrict access to their markets, bribery and corruption will flourish, Kantor said in a keynote speech to the Global Partners Forum, a three-day gathering of Asia-Pacific experts at the East-West Center.
Corruption is abetted by too many developed countries, 14 of which allow their companies to take tax deductions for illicit payments in foreign countries, the former U.S. trade representative said.
"We have the only foreign corrupt practices law," he told the forum sponsored by the Anderson School of the University of California at Los Angeles.
Kantor said the Asia-Pacific area and its growing markets will have a huge future in world trade but there are difficulties that must be overcome.
"The APEC countries (members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) have 50 percent of the world's economy and 50 percent of the world's trade," but they make up the world's most difficult political and strategic area, Kantor said.
Developing countries must be pushed to develop and abide by laws that other countries can live with, in areas such as child labor and protecting intellectual property, he said.
Kantor said he expects that the transition of Hong Kong into China will go smoothly resulting in a successful "one China, two systems" structure, but if it doesn't there could be trouble ahead for the United States.
"There are forces now in Congress going in the opposite directionxxx looking for an excuse to vote against MFN (most favored nation trade status) for China," he said. "It would be very bad for the relationship" between the United States and China, Kantor said.
Kantor included what he said was a personal comment that there has been too much fuss made about foreign businessmen allegedly using campaign contributions to influence international business deals to their advantage.
As commerce secretary, he said, he saw no evidence of anyone being named to a U.S. trade mission because of such influence.
It's time to move forward, Kantor said. "Not everyone in the federal government is a moral leper," he said.
Kantor, who helped the Clinton administration negotiate 200 international trade agreements, recently became a senior advisor on international banking to the Morgan Stanley group.