[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 13 (Thursday, February 10, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 10, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
     NEGOTIATIONS UNDER THE UNITED STATES-JAPAN FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT

                                 ______


                            HON. SAM GIBBONS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 10, 1994

  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, this week, top United States officials 
enter the last leg of what has been a multiyear marathon of trade 
negotiations with the Japanese. Over the past dozen years, the United 
States Government has sent delegations to talk with the Japanese about 
sector specific, structural, and macroeconomics issues, but to little 
or no avail. We still find ourselves facing recordbreaking trade 
deficits with Japan, approaching $60 billion for 1993, due in large 
measure to countless hidden barriers to United States products entering 
the Japanese market.
  President Clinton and his talented trade team, led by United States 
Trade Representative Mickey Kantor, have recently won major trade 
victories, including the passage of the NAFTA and the conclusion of the 
Uruguay round. They have achieved real results in markets around the 
globe, but such progress in large part eludes them in Japan.
  In the eyes of many in Congress, the problem we have with Japan is 
clear: bureaucratic resistance to change that would open the Japanese 
market to foreign products. When Japan, in the context of the Uruguay 
round, agreed to allow some imports of foreign-grown rice, many hoped 
that this signaled the start of a new, more cooperative, and 
constructive period in Japan's trade relations with both the United 
States and the rest of the world. But the events of the past 6 months 
throughout the United States-Japan framework agreement talks have 
indicated otherwise.
  When Prime Minister Hosokawa comes to Washington at the end of this 
week to meet with President Clinton, my hope is that the two leaders 
will announce good, substantive agreements on Government procurement, 
insurance, and automotive trade. These agreements must provide for 
tangible and measurable progress. I also hope that they will announce 
further improvements in the Japanese tariff offer in the Uruguay round 
on wood, copper, and white distilled spirits.
  I fully support the U.S. objectives in the framework talks. If these 
negotiations do not yield the necessary results, the United States 
should pursue an alternative course of action that will truly restore 
some semblance of balance and equity to our bilateral trade 
relationship.

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