[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 147 (Tuesday, November 29, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: November 29, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                            ANTI-GATT MYTHS

                                 ______


                         HON. MICHAEL G. OXLEY

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 29, 1994

  Mr. OXLEY. Mr. Speaker, in view of the ever-increasing rhetoric from 
several anti-GATT sources, I submit for the Record a well-written and 
incisive column by Donald Lambro of the Washington Times which debunks 
the myths being used by GATT opponents. I recommend this for all of my 
colleagues and anyone else who is truly interested in an accurate 
picture of the impact of GATT.

              GATT and the Undertow of a Free-Trade Utopia

       When Congress votes this week on the international 
     agreement to lower trade tariffs, known as GATT, it will 
     decide whether America is going to be a key player in the 
     global economy or run away from it.
       What is at stake here is nothing less than the future 
     economic strength of the United States--the largest and most 
     prosperous exporter of goods and services on the planet--and 
     whether we are going to continue to be the leading export-
     import trader in the lucrative world economy.
       At its heart, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade is 
     the richest business deal of the century. A vote for GATT 
     means that America's businesses and their workers are going 
     to be making those deals and profiting from them by selling 
     U.S. goods and services to the world. That means higher 
     profits and that leads to more and better-paying jobs.
       The fight over GATT is really between those who want to 
     lead America into the future, and ensure it is going to be 
     part of the emerging markets hungry for American products and 
     culture, and those who want to take us back to the past and 
     rebuild the old tariff walls of Smoot-Hawley, which helped 
     plunge the world into the Great Depression.
       The former would be a vote of confidence in America's 
     ability to compete and win in world markets. The latter would 
     be a vote for retreat, surrendering those lucrative consumer 
     markets to our competitors.
       Trade is where the jobs of the future are coming from, says 
     business guru Peter Drucker. That's why America has to plunge 
     into the world economy head first, selling its computers, its 
     laptops, its pagers, its airlines, its fast food, and its 
     entertainment industry.
       There are a billion potential customers in China for 
     telecommunications equipment. And America, which makes the 
     best telephone equipment in the world, must be the leader in 
     that market.
       A lot of myths, scare-tactics and demagoguery have been 
     used against GATT by its opponents. Let's examine a few of 
     them one by one:
       American jobs will be lost and our economy will be hurt if 
     we join GATT: The numbers show just the opposite has happened 
     since the first GATT agreement took effect in 1947.
       Back then U.S. exports represented 8 percent of our gross 
     national product, which was about $234 billion. Last year, 
     despite strong competition around the world, we exported more 
     than $660 billion in goods and services, which accounted for 
     10.4 percent of our gross domestic product, which now stands 
     at almost $6.5 trillion.
       Those exports not only directly support 10 million American 
     jobs, but the nation's total work force has exploded over 
     this period, growing to more than 115 million workers today.
       Imports produce unemployment: This is the phoniest and most 
     specious of all the anti-GATT arguments. The lack of enough 
     good-paying jobs is caused by too little capital investment 
     in new and existing businesses. And that stems from excessive 
     taxation on savings, income and investment capital.
       If you want to see what higher tariffs will do to 
     employment, examine the mess that Mexico was in just a few 
     years ago until it began deregulating its economy. It had 
     imposed high tariffs on imports and raised other obstacles to 
     foreign investments to protect its industries. Yet Mexico was 
     in a depression and its people were jobless until it opened 
     its borders to trade.
       Argentina is another example. Until 1930, it was a fast-
     growth country, attracting outside capital, immigrants and 
     trade. But it chose to close its door to GATT, and shrank 
     behind its higher tariff walls. The result was an economic 
     disaster for that country until it opened itself to trade in 
     the past decade and began rebuilding its economy.
       Look at all the countries who joined GATT in 1947 and those 
     who did not and you will see that the GATT countries are the 
     most prosperous nations while the non-GATT countries are the 
     poorest.
       The World Trade Organization that GATT would set up to 
     mediate disputes would undermine American sovereignty: Trade 
     agreements are needlessly complex and the WTO is 
     unnecessarily bureaucratic.
       But a Joint Economic Committee analysis found nothing in 
     the WTO provisions that would endanger America's 
     independence. There is nothing in this agreement that could 
     in any way prevent America from withdrawing at any time it 
     chooses to do so. Besides, when has the United States ever 
     been forced by a world body to do something that we deemed to 
     be against our national interests?
       The cut in tariffs will drive up the deficit: Actually, the 
     increased economic growth and jobs that will result from 
     expanded trade will produce a net revenue gain for the 
     government, even with reduced tariffs.
       A study by the Republican staff of the Joint Economic 
     Committee of every major economic growth estimate of GATT 
     from a wide range of economists and organizations showed 
     eight different estimates of revenue gains. ``When the total 
     fiscal impact of the GATT is considered, the total new 
     revenues could go as high as $115 billion over five years,'' 
     and a JEC report.
       The world's industrial powers and emerging growth economies 
     are on the brink of a historic tidal wave of increased trade. 
     It is America's destiny to not only be a part of this global 
     growth, but to lead it.

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