[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 49 (Wednesday, April 17, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H3557-H3558]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THE TRADE DEFICIT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio [Ms. Kaptur] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, over the weekend, here in Washington there 
was a public relations blitz organized by the administration to tell us 
and the world how United States trade relations with Japan have 
improved. National Economic Council Chair Laura Tyson went so far as to 
state we have had a great record of success with the Japanese in the 
area of trade with our exports increasing by one-third since 1993, and 
we have seen the trade deficit come down, she said, for the first time 
in 5 years, so we have a strong record of success.
  Well, you know, people can twist numbers in amazing ways. If the 
administration had such a strong record of success, why has the United 
States trade deficit with Japan worsened during the Clinton watch and 
become even

[[Page H3558]]

worse than during the Bush years when the United States trade deficit 
with Japan reached all-time highs? Look at the facts.
  During the first 3 years of the Bush administration, the United 
States trade deficit with Japan reached over $133.5 billion. During the 
first 3 years of the Clinton administration, our trade deficit with 
Japan has soared to over $185 billion. That is $50 billion worse, 
according to my math, and a 39-percent increase. Wishing a problem away 
certainly will not make it so, and Japan knows it. Our Nation gains 
nothing by denial.
  Facts again: During the Bush years, the 4 years, the total trade 
deficit with Japan reached over $183 billion, an all-time record. 
President Clinton has racked up that amount in just his first 3 years. 
In fact, during the Clinton watch, the trade deficit with Japan has 
rung in at all time record highs each year, $60 billion in the red in 
1993, $65.7 billion in the red in 1994, and $60 billion in the red in 
1995. We cannot project what the United States-Japan trade deficit will 
be this year, but all indicators are that the total for the 4 years of 
Clinton's time will easily be over $230 billion to the deficit side of 
the ledger.
  Let us take a look at the automotive sector, which still accounts for 
over half of the deficit with Japan, more exports coming over here, 
fewer of our imports going into their market.
  Remember when President Bush journeyed to Japan late in his 
Presidency and became ill at the official dinner held during the 
automotive trade rift? This is not a new problem. I personally have 
been working on opening Japan's market to United States goods for over 
a decade. I can tell Members Japan's auto market largely remains 
closed. They continue to believe we are not really serious.
  United States auto manufacturers still have less than 1 measly 
percent of Japan's auto market, yet Japan holds upwards of one-third of 
our market. Think about this. With our low interest rates, the value of 
our dollar against the yen has fallen 40 percent since 1990, which 
means that our products are 40 percent cheaper in Japan. Yet we gained 
only one-third of 1 percent additional market penetration in Japan in 
1995.
  While we were able to sell about 58,000 cars there last year, Japan 
has sold over 100 times that amount in our country over the last 
decade. When I ask my local auto people, how are you doing, they smile 
and they look down.
  In a recent survey of United States auto parts suppliers to Japanese 
customers, two-thirds of our suppliers say they are working hard to 
crack Japan's market with roughly half of those responding saying they 
are currently achieving either limited success, sporadic success or no 
success at all in really opening that market.
  Can you imagine, in the second largest marketplace in the world, if 
we could get trade reciprocity with Japan, the amount of jobs we could 
create in this country, in shipping, in distribution, in manufacturing, 
in parts, et cetera? Compare the limited success of United States auto 
and auto parts manufacturers to crack Japan's market to the 
administration's exaggerated claims.
  Friends, let us stop the denial. You cannot look at these numbers and 
not know that trade is going one way and not the other. We have scaled 
an ant hill in our efforts to open Japan's market. Now all that is left 
is the mountain of red ink to scale.

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