Opening Statement of the Hon. Phillip M. Crane,
a Representative in Congress from the State of Illinois

Hearing on President Bush's Trade Agenda for 2002

February 7, 2002

Thank you Mr. Chairman.  I want to join in warmly welcoming Ambassador Zoellick to the Committee and to commend him on the impressive breakthrough he achieved at the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial meeting in Doha.

As you know, I led a delegation of nineteen from this Committee to Seattle in 1999 where we observed first hand the deadlock and suspicion among our trading partners in the WTO.  Mr. Ambassador, at Doha you cleared away a black cloud on the horizon of our international economic strength; Americans are once again leading at the international negotiating table.

 The paychecks of hard-working folks in plants and on farms across this country will be more secure as the result of the markets the new Doha Round can open.  As they say at Cape Canaveral: “We’ve got a launch.” We also have a schedule and an outline of what can be achieved in terms of reducing unfair disparities in tariffs faced by American companies, discriminatory rules governing services, unfamiliar and burdensome product standards and regulations, and unnecessary threats to their investments.  Finally, you succeeded getting countries to commit to a deadline of 2005 and, if I could do one thing today, it would be to urge you to stick to that date.

It is great to have you before us today knowing that this Committee and the House have made the hard choices necessary to pass Trade Promotion Authority, and that we are only awaiting action in the other Body.  The rapid 18-3 bipartisan approval in the Finance Committee tells me that we struck the right balance in the House, even from where I sit near one end of the seesaw.  Last year at this time, when getting trade promotion authority out of the House was in question, our economic future as a country was also more in doubt.  Now, I believe, Congress may be very close to giving you and the President the tools you need.

Our trading partners have been very active in opening and expanding markets for their exports and, I am optimistic we are positioning ourselves to do the same.  I believe that this year, 2002, will be a significant year for United States trade policy.  We look forward to enacting the Andean Trade bill, concluding bilateral FTAs with Singapore and Chile which were initiated by President Clinton, initiating several other FTA negotiations, achieving key milestones in negotiations to establish a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and positive movement in many WTO matters including agriculture, services, and industrial tariffs.

The year ahead in trade holds the promise of job creation, economic growth, and making the world more secure by expanding commercial ties among countries that should be doing more to work together.  I look forward to hearing about the trade priorities as you and President Bush see them.