[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 111 (Thursday, August 11, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 11, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                   WE NEED THE INTERIM TRADE PROGRAM

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I would like to bring an important matter 
to the Senate's attention. I believe that the Senate should seriously 
consider including the Interim Trade Program, referred to as the ITP, 
in the GATT implementing legislation. This is a program that has the 
support of the administration and has already been included in the 
House version of the GATT implementing legislation.
  The program will provide the Caribbean Basin Initiative [CBI] 
countries with apparel and textile regulations that are more in line 
with those given to Mexico under NAFTA. Inclusion of the ITP would be 
beneficial to the United States for several reasons.
  First and foremost, the ITP will help to increase U.S. presence in 
the markets of the Caribbean Basin Countries. The United States already 
has a trade surplus of more than $2 billion with the region. The ITP 
will allow U.S. companies to more easily provide products that the 
Caribbean region has already shown a strong interest in obtaining.
  Second, it will help further the ability of the U.S. apparel and 
textile industries to work in cooperation with the CBI countries. This 
will allow these industries to better compete with imports from foreign 
companies working out of areas with lower production costs.
  Finally, the ITP contains regulations focused on improving the market 
situation in the CBI countries, including requirements for internal 
reform.
  The need to enact the ITP is especially time sensitive due to the 
current situation in the CBI countries. Because these countries do not 
currently enjoy many of the cost advantages afforded under NAFTA, they 
are already experiencing a loss in production and are seeing 
investments move out of their region.
  It is in the best interest of the United States to include the ITP in 
the GATT implementing legislation. This agreement is not designed to 
trade existing American jobs for foreign production. Instead, through 
continued cooperation with the CBI region, it allows American apparel 
and textile producers to better compete in the world market and 
maintain production in the United States. It also allows the United 
States to better compete against the influx of imports resulting from 
the phase-out of the MFA.
  Mr. President, failure to include the ITP in the GATT implementing 
legislation will be a misstep in the administration's foreign trade 
policy. The ITP will help the nations of the Caribbean, it will also 
help the United States. The administration supports the ITP, the House 
supported the ITP, it is now our turn to lend our support as well.

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