FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 1999
No. TR-2
Congressman Philip M. Crane (R-Il), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Trade of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a series of hearings on the importance of expanding trade and resisting protectionism through active United States involvement in trade negotiations. The first hearing will take place on Thursday, February 11, 1999, in B-318 Rayburn House Office Building, beginning at 1:00 p.m.
Oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. The sole invited witness will be United States Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky. However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Committee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.
Other hearings in the series are expected to address: (1) the potential impact of ongoing trade negotiations on jobs, wages, economic opportunity and the future competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers and service providers; (2) implementation and compliance with existing trade agreements; (3) prospects for an agreement to establish a Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA); (4) trade talks under the auspices of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Group (APEC); (5) negotiations on the so-called "built-in" agenda in the World Trade Organization (WTO); and (6) the possibility of further bilateral trade negotiations with Europe, Chile, New Zealand, Australia and other nations in the Pacific Rim region. Additional hearing dates and details will be released in subsequent announcements.
BACKGROUND:
The United States currently participates in three major multilateral and regional trade negotiations. At the December 1994 Summit of the Americas in Miami, leaders of 34 Western Hemisphere democracies agreed to establish a FTAA, in which barriers to trade and investment are progressively eliminated. They committed to begin the process immediately, make concrete progress by the year 2000, and conclude negotiations by no later than 2005. These negotiations were officially launched at the Second Summit of the Americas in Santiago, Chile, in April 1998.
The APEC forum, an association of 21 economies bordering the Pacific Ocean, working cooperatively to reduce barriers to trade and investment, has declared its intention to establish free trade and investment in the region by the year 2010 for developed countries and by 2020 for others. In November of 1997, APEC members held a Joint Ministerial Meeting and Leaders Summit in Vancouver, where they identified 15 sectors in which they intended to cut tariffs and remove other barriers to trade. At the November 18, 1998, Ministers and Leaders Meeting in Malaysia, countries agreed to move work on the tariff portion of nine of these sectors into the WTO, with the aim of completing an agreement with participation beyond APEC countries by 1999.
The Uruguay Round was the eighth round or series of multilateral trade negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The agreements reached at the end of 1994 during the Uruguay Round were noteworthy in that they greatly expanded coverage of GATT rules beyond manufactured goods trade to include agricultural trade, services trade, trade-related investment measures, intellectual property rights, and textiles. The most visible accomplishment of this multilateral round was to establish the WTO to administer the GATT agreements and to settle disputes among WTO members, as well as other matters of interest to other WTO Members.
The Uruguay Round agreement calls for the resumption of negotiations by the year 2000 to further liberalize trade in agriculture and services, as well as on government procurement practices and enforcement of intellectual property rights. The next WTO Ministerial conference, which will be hosted by the United States November 30-December 3, 1999, is slated to consider the procedures and substance of the so-called "built-in" WTO agenda.
In announcing the hearings, Chairman Crane stated, "With this broad set of hearings, where we will hear from Americans in many walks of life, I intend to review prospects for success in each of the major trade negotiations in which the U.S. currently participates. At a difficult time in the World economy, as countries face pressures to increase protectionism, trade negotiations provide us the opportunity to prevail on them to adopt market-opening measures. Active U.S. involvement is essential. The country can no longer afford to keep our seat warm at the WTO, and in the FTAA and APEC trade talks, while the attention and energy of our government is focused elsewhere. Our trade negotiators lack the tools they need to achieve concrete results."
FOCUS OF THE HEARING:
The focus of the hearing on February 11th will be to examine and assess the President's trade policy agenda and negotiating priorities for the remaining two years of this Administration.
DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:
Any person or organization wishing to submit a written statement for the printed record of the hearing should submit six (6) single-spaced copies of their statement, along with an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect 5.1 format, with their name, address, and hearing date noted on a label, by the close of business, Thursday, February 25, 1999, to A.L. Singleton, Chief of Staff, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, 1102 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. If those filing written statements wish to have their statements distributed to the press and interested public at the hearing, they may deliver 200 additional copies for this purpose to the Subcommittee on Trade office, room 1104 Longworth House Office Building, by close of business the day before the hearing.
FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:
Each statement presented for printing to the Committee by a witness, any written statement or exhibit submitted for the printed record or any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any statement or exhibit not in compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
1. All statements and any accompanying exhibits for printing must be submitted on an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect 5.1 format, typed in single space and may not exceed a total of 10 pages including attachments. Witnesses are advised that the Committee will rely on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record.
2. Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased. All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
3. A witness appearing at a public hearing, or submitting a statement for the record of a public hearing, or submitting written comments in response to a published request for comments by the Committee, must include on his statement or submission a list of all clients, persons, or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears.
4. A supplemental sheet must accompany each statement listing the name, company, address, telephone and fax numbers where the witness or the designated representative may be reached. This supplemental sheet will not be included in the printed record.
The above restrictions and limitations apply only to material being submitted for printing. Statements and exhibits or supplementary material submitted solely for distribution to the Members, the press, and the public during the course of a public hearing may be submitted in other forms.
The
Committee seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with
disabilities. If you are in need of special accommodations, please
call 202-225-1721 or 202-226-3411 TTD/TTY in advance of the event
(four business days notice is requested). Questions with regard to
special accommodation needs in general (including availability of
Committee materials in alternative formats) may be directed to the
Committee as noted above.