[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2391 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2391

   To authorize and direct the Secretary of Commerce to initiate an 
  investigation under section 702 of the Tariff Act of 1930 of methyl 
            tertiary butyl ether imported from Saudi Arabia.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 30, 1998

  Mr. Daschle introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To authorize and direct the Secretary of Commerce to initiate an 
  investigation under section 702 of the Tariff Act of 1930 of methyl 
            tertiary butyl ether imported from Saudi Arabia.

    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 ``Fair Trade in MTBE Act of 1998''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Section 814 of Public Law 101-549 (commonly referred to 
        as the ``Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990'') expressed the 
        sense of Congress that every effort should be made to purchase 
        and produce American-made reformulated gasoline and other clean 
        fuel products.
            (2) Since the passage of the Clean Air Amendments Act of 
        1990, Saudi Arabia has added substantial industrial capacity 
        for the production of methyl tertiary butyl ether (in this Act 
        referred to as ``MTBE'').
            (3) The expansion of Saudi Arabian production capacity has 
        been stimulated by government subsidies, notably in the form of 
        a governmental decree guaranteeing Saudi Arabian MTBE producers 
        a 30 percent discount relative to world prices on feedstock.
            (4) The expansion of subsidized Saudi Arabian production 
        has been accompanied by a major increase in Saudi Arabian MTBE 
        exported to the United States.
            (5) The subsidized Saudi Arabian MTBE exports have reduced 
        the market share of American producers of MTBE, ETBE, and 
        ethanol, as well as discouraged capital investment by American 
        producers.
            (6) Saudi Arabia is not a member of the World Trade 
        Organization and is not subject to the terms and conditions of 
        the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures 
        negotiated as part of the Uruguay Round Agreements.

SEC. 3. INITIATION OF COUNTERVAILING DUTY INVESTIGATION.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the administering authority shall initiate an 
investigation pursuant to title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 
U.S.C. 1671 et seq.) to determine if the necessary elements exist for 
the imposition of a duty under section 701 of such Act with respect to 
the importation into the United States of MTBE from Saudi Arabia.
    (b) Administering Authority.--For purposes of this section, the 
term ``administering authority'' has the meaning given such term by 
section 771(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1677(1)).
                                 <all>