/* Written 7:07 AM Jul 8, 1994 by kmander in igc:trade.news */ /* ---------- "Trade Week 7-8-94" ---------- */ Trade Week in Review and Resources Friday, July 8, 1994 Volume 3, Number 27 _________________________________________________ Headlines: WHITE HOUSE, BUSINESS TEAM UP FOR GATT AEROSPACE SUBMITS GATT LANGUAGE GERMANY TO CHALLENGE BANANA QUOTA CLINTON CONSIDERS SPECTRUM TAX FOR GATT U.S. RULES AGAINST CHEAP EU CHEESE WHEAT GROWERS SEEK EEP CHANGES RESOURCES _________________________________________________ GATT NEWS SUMMARY _________________________________________________ WHITE HOUSE, BUSINESS TEAM UP FOR GATT The July 2 issue of NATIONAL JOURNAL describes how Washington's top corporate lobbyists and the Clinton administration are working together to lobby Congress on the Uruguay Round. They've assembled many of the same lobbyists and officials who led the fight for NAFTA. "We're trying to utilize the administration people who had experience with the NAFTA debate, and that experience is already paying dividends," said Edward S. Knight, who is coordinating the White House's contacts with the business community. "There's no need to reinvent the wheel." The pro-GATT forces are hoping to get an earlier start in promoting GATT than they did with NAFTA. As part of that effort, the Business Roundtable, the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have launched the Alliance for GATT NOW, a campaign of Washington lobbying, grassroots campaigning, advertising and public relations that is reminiscent of the USA*NAFTA coalition. The alliance has asked 220 business executives to help push GATT through Congress by contacting lawmakers, in person if possible. Administration officials have also been speaking to key groups of opinion leaders to generate support for the trade pact. The Commerce Department even produced reports detailing the benefits of GATT by state and by sector, leading some lobbyists to question whether the administration is violating statutes that prohibit federal departments and agencies from using appropriated funds for lobbying purposes. The article describes how opposition from environmental, consumer, labor and other groups is also heating up, but contends that these groups will have a tougher time than they did with NAFTA because the GATT text is so complicated. Source: Peter H. Stone, "GATT-ling Guns," NATIONAL JOURNAL, July 2, 1994. _________________________________________________ AEROSPACE SUBMITS GATT LANGUAGE The U.S. aerospace industry has sent the Clinton administration language it would like included in GATT implementing legislation. The industry is seeking language forcing the U.S. to reject proposals by other countries to weaken international trading rules limiting government subsidies to the aircraft industry. Don Fuqua, president of the Aerospace Industries Association, said U.S. aerospace companies are concerned that the European Union is apparently ready to violate two aircraft subsidies codes limiting subsidies for large civil aircraft. The White House will seriously consider the language because it is relying on help from the aerospace industry in promoting GATT in the state of Washington and Congress. Boeing has been enlisted to fulfill the lead lobbying role for the aerospace industry as part of the Alliance for GATT NOW coalition. Source: "U.S. Aerospace Firms Submit Plan for Implementing GATT Trade Agreement," BNA, July 7, 1994. _________________________________________________ GERMANY TO CHALLENGE BANANA QUOTA Germany plans to ask the European Court to review the legality of new European Union banana import quotas. German officials contend the quotas discriminate against its traditional Latin American suppliers and favor former European colonies in the African, Caribbean and Pacific group. German officials said the quotas conflict with aspects of EU and GATT laws and that they have resulted in higher prices and a 25 percent drop in sales of bananas. Source: "Germany Plans Second Banana Quota Challenge," FINANCIAL TIMES, July 7, 1994. __________________________________________________ CLINTON CONSIDERS SPECTRUM TAX FOR GATT A bipartisan group of 43 members of the House of Representatives has written to outgoing Budget Director Leon Panetta opposing a tax on radio and television broadcasters and wireless communications as a way of paying for the lost federal revenue resulting from GATT. Representative Thomas Ewing (R-Illinois), who organized the sending of the letter, said the administration has been considering a tax as high as five percent of revenues "as one way to meet budget rules necessary for passage" of the GATT implementing bill. The letter states that a spectrum tax would "slow down development of the information superhighway" and "make GATT harder to pass in the Congress." In a separate letter sent late last month, Senator Conrad Burns (R- Montana) urged Panetta to "withdraw from consideration" the proposal to impose a spectrum tax. Burns wrote: "As a matter of principle, broadcast station owners should not be asked to underwrite the cost to implement a treaty from which they have no benefit." Source: "Members Rally Against Spectrum Tax to Pay for GATT," CONGRESSDAILY, July 5, 1994. _________________________________________________ U.S. RULES AGAINST CHEAP EU CHEESE The U.S. Department of Agriculture ruled last month that Austria, Denmark and Germany are illegally using government subsidies to lower the price of Swiss cheese exported to the United States. If the three countries do not stop dumping cheese in the U.S., the U.S. government will be required to impose punitive tariffs or reduce quotas on the cheese. Stewart Huber, president of the Farmers Union Milk Marketing Cooperative, welcomed the decision, but said the case demonstrates the difficulties of enforcing current U.S. trade laws even with current quotas in place. "That's why we're so concerned that we will face much greater dairy import problems when Section 22 and other current safeguards are eliminated under the new GATT agreement," Huber said. Meanwhile, members of the Dairy Trade Coalition (DTC) welcomed the creation of the bipartisan Congressional Dairy Task Force on GATT. The 26-member task force was formed to monitor whether DTC's list of changes to GATT implementing legislation is adopted. "The Uruguay Round of GATT is a miserable failure for American dairy farmers," said Representative Steve Gunderson (R-Wisconsin). Sources: "FUMMC Wins Swiss Cheese Dumping Decision," MILK MATTERS, June 30, 1994; "Congressional Dairy Task Force Formed to Push GATT Changes," MILK MATTERS, June 30, 1994. __________________________________________________ WHEAT GROWERS SEEK EEP CHANGES The National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) is calling for changes in federal export subsidy programs, such as the Export Enhancement Program (EEP), to conform with the mandates of the Uruguay Round of GATT. NAWG President Carl Schwensen said the new GATT pact "will do nothing to discipline unfair practices of monopolistic state trading agencies or other countries who employ predatory pricing practices." Source: "US Wheat Growers Seek Govt. Export Help Under GATT," REUTER, July 1, 1994. __________________________________________________ RESOURCES __________________________________________________ For copies of the following, please contact the authors or organizations listed: "The East India Company, Free Trade and GATT," Vandana Shiva, 1994. 7 pages. Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, 1313 5th St. S.E., Suite 303, Minneapolis, MN 55414-1546. (612) 379-5980. Fax: (612) 379-5982. $2. A concise history of free trade in India from the seventeenth century to the present day. "The GATT Tuna Dolphin II Decision and Its Potential Application to the EU Leghold Trap Regulation," Leesteffy Jenkins, HUMANE SOCIETY, June 8, 1994. 5 pages. Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, 1313 5th St. S.E., Suite 303, Minneapolis, MN 55414-1546. (612) 379-5980. Fax: (612) 379-5982. $2. "U.S. Ratification of Biodiversity Convention," BIODIVERSITY ACTION, Vol. 1, No. 1, Spring 1994. 8 pages. Sheldon Cohen, BIONET, 424 C Street N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002. (202) 547-8902. Fax: (202) 544-8483. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This inaugural issue outlines positions on the Biodiversity Convention from Congress, the U.S. Administration, industry and non- governmental organizations. "Scaling the Peaks of Self-Governance in Nepal," SELF- GOVERNANCE, Summer 1994. 2 pages. International Center for Self-Governance, 720 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94102. (415) 981-5353, ext. 226. Fax: (415) 986-4878. Free. "In The Public Interest?: Privatization and Public Sector Reform," Brendan Martin, ZED BOOKS/ PUBLIC SERVICES INTERNATIONAL, 1993. Humanities Press International, Inc. 165 First Avenue, Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716. (908) 872-1441. Fax: (980) 872-0717. $19.95. _________________________________________________
