[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 90 (Wednesday, July 13, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 13, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
            THE TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT REPORTING ACT OF 1994

                                 ______


                          HON. GERRY E. STUDDS

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 13, 1994

  Mr. STUDDS. Mr. Speaker, the world in which U.S. consumers and 
workers live is growing steadily smaller. Actions we take in this 
country today have the potential to reverberate almost immediately on 
the other side of the planet. American workers must compete in a global 
economy and American jobs are created or lost by the relative success 
or failure of our export markets. The ways in which U.S. companies do 
business reflect the growing influence of international free trade 
principles--that, ideally, those who produce the best products at the 
cheapest prices are the winners.
  As we work to improve markets for U.S. products abroad, one of the 
questions we must ask is whether, in all this rush to embrace the 
principles of free trade, we are sacrificing any of the environmental 
goals that are so important to the American people.
  Those who would question whether environmental issues should play any 
role in trade deliberations need only sit on the Merchant Marine and 
Fisheries Committee for a while, and they'll find a clear and 
unequivocal answer. Many of the critical environmental statutes under 
my committee's jurisdiction--laws which enjoy tremendous popular 
support--contain trade provisions as enforcement mechanisms, identify 
trade in wildlife products as contributing to the demise of species, or 
recognize that irresponsible harvesting methods can have devastating 
effects on ecosystems. Discussions on how best to harmonize trade 
objectives with environmental goals are underway at the United Nations, 
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and other 
international fora. As responsible lawmakers, we should be using our 
time to determine--both domestically and in the global arena--how to 
best approach this issue, not how to avoid it.
  The bill I introduce today, the Trade and Environment Reporting Act 
of 1994, is based on the simple need to get information about this 
complex relationship. It would require the Office of the Trade 
Representative [USTR] to consult with Congress, the environmental 
agencies, and environmental organizations before entering into major 
trade actions that could affect environmental resources. It would also 
require USTR to prepare environmental assessments of free trade 
agreements, and it would require the environmental agencies to monitor 
and report on the effects of those agreements.
  This bill is simple common sense. It will shed much-needed light on 
the relationship between liberalized global trade and an increasingly 
fragile global environment, and it will do so without affecting our 
ability to negotiate trade agreements that are good for the American 
economy and American workers. This is good policy, and I urge my 
colleagues to support it.

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