[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1449 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1449

 To establish a common market to bind together the countries of North 
 America, Central America, and South America in a common commitment to 
    promote democracy and mutually beneficial economic development.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

           September 13 (legislative day, September 7), 1993

  Mr. Hollings  (for himself and Mr. Riegle) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish a common market to bind together the countries of North 
 America, Central America, and South America in a common commitment to 
    promote democracy and mutually beneficial economic development.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``American Common Market Act of 
1993''.

SEC. 2. NEGOTIATIONS TO ESTABLISH COMMON MARKET.

    (a) In General.--The President is authorized and strongly 
encouraged to negotiate, with the other countries of North America, 
Central America, and South America, a treaty to establish a Common 
Market of the Americas, containing the following:
            (1) Terms of accession.--A requirement that the only 
        countries that may be parties to the treaty are North American, 
        Central American, and South American countries that in law and 
        practice have a clear commitment to democracy, human rights, 
        and freedom of press.
            (2) Social charter.--A provision setting forth a social 
        charter prescribing minimum standards for each Common Market 
        country with respect to environmental protection and health, 
        safety, and working conditions, including a common minimum wage 
        and the private right to form independent labor unions.
            (3) Development fund.--A provision creating a development 
        fund for infrastructure projects in less developed Common 
        Market countries and providing for debt relief for such less 
        developed countries.
            (4) Common external tariff.--A provision establishing a 
        common external tariff applicable to imports into the Common 
        Market area.
            (5) Economic cooperation.--A requirement for a biannual 
        meeting of the finance ministers of the Common Market countries 
        in order to coordinate their respective economic policies, 
        including macroeconomic policy and cooperation on currency 
        valuation to prevent Common Market countries from engaging in 
        competitive devaluations.
            (6) Harmonized competition policy.--A requirement that the 
        Common Market countries establish a harmonized competition 
        policy in order to properly regulate the competition among 
        persons engaged in commerce in the Common Market area.
            (7) Export balancing requirements.--A requirement that a 
        specified percentage of goods from the less developed Common 
        Market countries be exported to non-Common Market countries.
            (8) Tariff harmonization.--A requirement that after an 
        independent international commission, established by the treaty 
        or agreed upon by all Common Market countries, certifies that--
                    (A) a functional democratic political system is in 
                place in each Common Market country;
                    (B) per capita gross domestic product for each such 
                country reaches a level of economic development that 
                permit its full participation in the Common Market 
                without jeopardizing the economic well-being of the 
                other Common Market countries; and
                    (C) each Common Market country is in full 
                compliance with the social charter described in 
                paragraph (2),
        then the Common Market countries shall initiate negotiations to 
        eliminate their respective national tariffs and non-tariff 
        barriers.
    (b) Definition.--In this section, the term--
            (1) ``Common Market country'' means a country that is a 
        party to the treaty described in subsection (a); and
            (2) ``Multi Fiber Arrangement'' means the Arrangement 
        Regarding International Trade in Textiles of December 20, 1973, 
        as extended.

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