[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 170 (Tuesday, October 31, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2080-E2081]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         SEVEN-YEAR BALANCED BUDGET RECONCILIATION ACT OF 1995

                                 ______


                               speech of

                           HON. ROBERT W. NEY

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 26, 1995

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2491) to 
     provide for reconciliation pursuant to section 105 of the 
     concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 1996:

  Mr. NEY. Mr. Chairman, as the House debates a budget reconciliation I 
would like to give my support to the provisions in the bill renewing 
generalized system of preferences [GSP] duty-free import program. This 
program was designed as a way to help less developed nations export 
into the U.S. market. the GSP Program allows duty-free imports of 
certain products into the U.S. from over 100 GSP-eligible countries. 
The bill wisely provides that import-sensitive products are not to be 
subject to GSP treatment. Ceramic tile is a clear example of an import 
sensitive product and is exactly the type of product which should not 
be subject to lower tariffs under the GSP Program.
  Imports have dominated the U.S. ceramic tile market for the last 
decade and they currently capture nearly 60 percent of the market. This 
extraordinary level of import penetration is a result, in part, of over 
30 years of documented unfair predatory foreign trade practices 
including dumping, subsidies, customs fraud import diversion, and abuse 
of a loophole in the GSP. The American ceramic tile industry, though 
relatively small, is efficient and competitive at normal tariff levels.
  From its inception in the Trade Act of 1974, the GSP Program has 
provided for the exemption of ``articles which the President determines 
to be import-sensitive.'' In light of the history of unfair trade in 
ceramic tile and the significant and growing import participation in 
the U.S. ceramic tile market, the U.S. industry has been recognized by 
successive Congresses and administrations as import sensitive, dating 
back to the Dillon and Kenney rounds of the General Agreement on 
Tariffs and Trade [GATT]. During this period the American ceramic tile 
also has been forced to defend itself from over a dozen petitions filed 
by various designated GSP-eligible countries seeking duty-free 
treatment for ceramic tile into this market. If just one petitioning 
nation succeeds in gaining GSP benefits for ceramic tile, then by law, 
every GSP beneficiary country is also entitled to GSP duty-free 
benefits for ceramic tile. If any of these petitions were granted, it 
would eliminate American tile jobs and could destroy the industry.
  A major guiding principle of the GSP Program has been reciprocal 
market access. Current GSP eligible beneficiary countries supply almost 
one-third of the U.S. ceramic tile imports and they are increasing 
their sales and market shares. U.S. ceramic tile manufacturers, 
however, are still denied access to many of these foreign markets. Many 
developing countries maintain exclusionary tariff and nontariff 
mechanisms which serve to block the entry of U.S. ceramic tile exports 
into these markets. Industrial countries, including the European Union 
[EU], may use less transparent 

[[Page E2081]]
methods such as discriminatory product standards and testing methods to 
control their ceramic tile imports and, in some cases, to divert 
ceramic tile manufactured in third countries over to the U.S. market by 
imposing restrictions on those third country exports to the EU.
  I am in support of the reauthorization of the GSP Program and trust 
that import-sensitive products such as tile will not be subject to GSP.

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