[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 22 (Thursday, March 3, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 3, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                                 TRADE

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, let me turn to trade just for a second. 
President Clinton is also under attack for his position on trade issues 
with Japan. Finally, I say, finally we have a President who is willing 
to exhibit a bit of leadership in international trade. We have had, 
year after year after year, trade actions by Japan and others that are 
fundamentally unfair to American producers, drive up enormous trade 
deficits in this country without anybody willing to stand up and say, 
``That's unfair to us.''
  Uncle Sam ought to stop getting kicked around in international 
markets. We ought not expect any special favors at any time, but 
neither should we accept unfair trade. When other countries decide they 
want to accept the opportunity in our market to send all their goods to 
us, then we ought to say one simple thing of them: We have a 
requirement of you to open up your market to our producers just as 
generously as we open up the American market to yours. That ought to be 
the standard for trade: Reciprocal trade and fair trade.
  Finally, we have a President who is willing to stand up to Japan and 
others--good friends, allies, trading partners, yes--but to stand up 
and say we expect more from you, we expect your markets to be open to 
American businesses and American workers, and we expect to get our 
goods into your markets just as you flood our markets with your goods. 
That is a standard that every American should accept and every American 
ought to applaud this President for taking that leadership.
  Let me turn to one other point in trade that we are trying very hard 
to get the White House to move on as well, and that is trade with 
Canada. Canada shares with us the longest border up North. We are good 
neighbors. We are good friends. But we have an enormously serious trade 
problem with the Canadians, and that is they are flooding our market 
with unfairly subsidized grain.
  Most people do not know what durum is, unless you produce durum. The 
people who eat macaroni and cheese tonight will not know they are 
eating something produced from semolina flour. Semolina flour is the 
ground product of durum wheat. Eighty percent of the durum wheat raised 
in America is raised in North Dakota.
  So if this evening you decide to have a pasta dinner, you are likely 
to put something in your stomach that comes from a durum wheat field in 
North Dakota.
  When we had the United States-Canada Free-Trade Agreement before the 
Congress, our farmers were literally sold out by then Trade Ambassador 
Yeutter and by the administration. We had zero durum wheat shipped into 
our country at that point from Canada. Do you know what it is now? 
Twenty percent of domestic consumption--all of it--is coming in 
unfairly subsidized. None of it is trade with which we can compete--50 
cents a bushel subsidy just on the subsidized Canadian railroad alone. 
We cannot compete with it.
  It is fundamentally unfair trade. It has sucked hundreds of millions 
of dollars out of the pockets of our farmers. It has cost us an extra 
$600 million in added farm program payments, said the USDA, according 
to their own testimony.
  The question is, what is going to be done about it? This President 
has taken the first steps to address it, but they are not steps 
sufficient enough to resolve the problem. And we are asking--yes, 
demanding--that this administration step up and say to the Canadians, 
``No more.''
  We want trade remedies called an emergency 22, emergency section 22, 
which would impose immediately a significant tariff on that unfairly 
subsidized grain. We are having a series of meetings with the 
administration. But you almost fall asleep over all these meetings and 
all these months when everybody says all these soothing things and 
nothing really quite gets done to solve the problem.
  I am of the opinion that we probably will not need to confirm any 
additional trade folks, because we do not need more trade people 
working in any agency downtown if we cannot solve the trade problems we 
now have. We have some nominations coming up. I have talked to some 
people in the administration suggesting that if that is the only point 
of leverage, then we will have to use that.
  We must resolve this issue with the Canadians and we must resolve it 
now. Our farmers deserve no less than to have the administration and 
Congress step up and say we will not accept unfair trade from our 
neighbors.
  The Presiding Officer, who very ably chairs the Agriculture 
Committee, understands how arcane some of these disputes are and how 
difficult some of the issues are with respect to grain.
  Most of the people in this Chamber--I should say most of the people 
in the other Chamber, in the House of Representatives--come from urban 
areas. Many in this Chamber grew up in urban areas. They do not have to 
live in a rural area in order to serve here. Those of us who come from 
rural areas have to live in an urban area to serve here. That is part 
of the requirement of serving in the U.S. Senate: You have to live at 
least part of the year in Washington, DC. We understand urban problems 
because we are forced to live here to serve here.
  The reverse is not true. Urban Members of the House and Senate do not 
always understand the problems we have in rural America. We have very 
few people out there. They are important. Their livelihood is fragile, 
depending on the weather, depending on the price. If they get a crop, 
there might be a decent price from the harvest; more than that, 
depending on the trade rules, because we must find a foreign home for 
half of what we produce.
  Trade rules are unfair to them. When you have trade rules that are as 
unfair as the rules have been with Canada, our farmers understand and 
are demonstrating in 30 degree below weather up on the northern border 
that this Government take action.
  I talked with President Clinton as recently as 2 days ago about this 
subject. I implore him again that we need to take effective, immediate, 
and decisive action to respond to this issue.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Shelby). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may proceed 
for an additional 10 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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