[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 204 (Tuesday, December 19, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2388]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               TRADE ACT

                                 ______


                         HON. E. CLAY SHAW, JR.

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, December 18, 1995

  Mr. SHAW. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce, with my good friend 
and colleague Mr. Canady of Florida, timely legislation to provide 
trade relief to producers of perishable agricultural products who have 
been substantially harmed by an increase in imports after the passage 
of the North American Free Trade Agreement [NAFTA].
  The Trade Act of 1974 authorizes the President to assist a domestic 
industry by imposing duties or modifying concessions if it has been 
determined that an increase in imports has been a substantial cause of 
or threatens serious injury to the domestic industry. However, domestic 
industry is currently defined narrowly by the trade act so as not to 
include the seasonal industries. Consequently, producers of perishable 
agricultural products who produce their product during a particular 
growing season are grouped together with all growers of this product 
during the full calendar year, and therefore these seasonal producers 
are unable to show the requisite injury needed for an antidumping 
action.
  This bill corrects this inequity by expanding the definition of 
domestic industry to account for the seasonal nature of agricultural 
products. Specifically, a domestic producer would include a producer 
that sells all or almost all of the production during the growing 
season. In addition, during that growing season, demand for the article 
must not be supplied, to any substantial degree, by other domestic 
producers. This definition is tailored to provide relief to the 
seasonal domestic agricultural industry, such as winter tomato 
producers, who sustained significant injury when they were faced with a 
significant increase in imports in 1994.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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