[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 86 (Tuesday, May 23, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H5379-H5380]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THE TRADE DEFICIT

  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, at the end of last week, we got the first 
quarter's trade numbers for the United States, with its trading 
partners. The news was grim. We are continuing to pile up record 
deficits with virtually all of our trading partners around the world.
  As everybody knows, a little earlier this year, in part those record 
trade deficits led to a plummeting of the value of the United States 
dollar versus the yen and the German mark. The dollar has recovered a 
bit but still is at near post-World War II historic lows. A lot of the 
responsibility for this has to be put at the doorstep of those who 
continue to mindlessly follow a trade policy which came to maturity 
under the leadership of Ronald Reagan in the early 1980's, following 
the dictates of an economist who has been dead for 200 years, Adam 
Smith, a man who never saw an airplane, never even saw a steam engine. 
Yet this man dictates the trade policy of the United States of America.
  Only two countries in the world follow Adam Smith's trade theories. 
We are both international basket cases: the United States of America 
and Great
 Britain. In fact Great Britain is the only country, major country we 
are running a trade surplus with. And it is time to revisit and review 
these policies. You cannot run a trade deficit every year, year after 
year, any more than you can run a national deficit every year, year 
after year without having someday to pay the horrible price. We are 
paying that price today.

  There was a $160 billion trade deficit last year, according to the 
Commerce Department. That means we lost 3.2 million American 
manufacturing jobs. And now the North American Free-Trade Agreement, 
the latest example of the extension of this disastrous policy, for the 
first 3 months of this year the United States ran a $3.8 billion trade 
deficit with Mexico, at the same time that we had to give them $20 
billion of our hard-earned money to bail out their economy. And this is 
considered a success. It is such a success that Speaker Gingrich is 
calling for an extension of the North American Free-Trade Agreement to 
other basket case economies in South America and Latin America.
  I quote:

       Unequivocally, I strongly favor adding Chile to the North 
     American Free-Trade Agreement and then continuing beyond 
     Chile to step by step expanding our regional commitment 
     because it is good for America and it is going to create more 
     jobs in the United States.

  Wrong, Mr. Speaker. We are losing jobs today to Mexico, $3.8 billion 
in 3 months according to our own Commerce Department. That means we 
lost 76,000 United States manufacturing jobs in 3 months to Mexico. We 
are headed more toward a loss of 250,000 or 300,000 jobs in 1 year to 
Mexico, and we are paying $20 billion of taxpayers money for that 
privilege. And now we want to extend that to Chile and other countries 
in South and Latin America and we want to do it in such a way that 
Congress will not be allowed to work its will, will not be allowed a 
single amendment on the floor of the House.
  Why would the Speaker of the House of Representatives want to give 
away the authority to amend a bill on the floor that has such a 
dramatic impact on the economy of the United States? Yet that is what 
he is advocating. He wants to give Bill Clinton, our President, a man 
who he constantly derides authority to bring forward a bill, negotiated 
in secret, which will extend these disastrous trade policies with no 
opportunity for amendment on the floor of the House or the Senate.
  Why is he doing this? Because he is serving the same masters, the 
same masters that have been dictating the trade policy of this country 
for 20 years. That is multinational corporations, foreign corporations, 
and big business. They are doing well. They are doing very well, thank 
you very much.
  It just happens to be a disaster for our economy because of the 
mounting trade deficits. A disaster for American workers because we are 
exporting their jobs, and now a disaster for the United States Treasury 
because we are even having to pay Mexico for the privilege of exporting 
our jobs there. And the Speaker wants to extend that policy because it 
is such a success. [[Page H5380]] 
  He wants to work hand in glove with the Clinton administration in 
these efforts. I will do all I can as one Member of this House of 
Representatives to stop this disastrous policy before it is extended 
any further, in fact, to repeal the past mistakes we have made, 
including the North American Free-Trade Agreement.


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