[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 56 (Monday, April 29, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4269-S4270]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           JAPAN TRADE POLICY

  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, first I would like to speak briefly on 
Japanese trade and the President's recent trip to Japan.
  Mr. President, we must now declare President Clinton's trade policy 
with Japan a spectacular failure, a fiasco.
  The capstone of this almost unbelievable 3-year fiasco occurred 
recently. The White House has an electronic home-page on the Internet, 
where Americans can go for the latest statement of administration 
policy on any issue. Recently, Americans reading the official White 
House electronic home-page on the Internet would have found documents 
describing the United States-Japan trade policy. But it was a 
description that no one would have recognized. The documents described 
in glowing detail how all disputes between the two countries had been 
resolved, how there was no longer any need for any of the agreements 
that had been reached between the United States and Japan, and how the 
United States should just drop its complaints against Japan.
  Mr. President, a closer look revealed that these documents on the 
White House home-page had been written by the Japanese Foreign 
Ministry.
  I understand the Japanese materials have now been deleted.
  I guess that just about sums up the Clinton record on trade. This is 
the point we have reached--the most powerful economic force in history, 
the United States of America--after 3\1/2\ years of stewardship by Bill 
Clinton and his advisers, and it is the Japanese who are writing the 
trade policy papers for the Clinton White House.
  Mr. President, this is a sad, and dangerous, state of affairs. Yet it 
is merely the logical conclusion of a trade policy that has emphasized 
appearance over reality, talk over substance, and politics over 
national interest.
  President Clinton returned a few days ago from a trip overseas that 
included a stop in Japan. Every American probably expected that this 
trip would shed at least a little additional light on the question of 
trade with Japan. After all, President Clinton and his advisers never 
tired of talking about their grand plan to deal with Japan. Last year, 
Clinton took this country to the brink of a trade war with Japan. Most 
people reasonably anticipated some progress, or at least discussion, of 
some of our massive trade problems with Japan.
  But that is not what happened. It now appears that Clinton did 
virtually nothing to raise any of these serious problems. This trip 
might have been the best opportunity in years for the American Chief 
Executive to raise--at the highest level--issues that mean real jobs in 
towns and communities across America. Issues that mean economic growth 
and a higher standard of living for Americans. Clinton's trip might 
have been the best opportunity in years to fix a serious and 
destabilizing problem--the massive trade deficit with Japan--and 
President Clinton squandered it.

  Most Americans probably would simply find this hard to believe. Most 
Americans are charitable, they want to believe the best about people, 
especially their President. They do not want to think that he would so 
profoundly misunderstand the opportunity

[[Page S4270]]

that presented itself to help America and working people at home.
  Yet, this is the hallmark of the Clinton trade policy. Actual 
substantive achievement means nothing--only appearances matter. For 
example, how else was it possible for Clinton to declare victory in the 
auto dispute with Japan when all the evidence showed nothing less than 
a full retreat and surrender to the Japanese?
  In the auto dispute, President Clinton went to the brink of a trade 
war with Japan, but came away with almost nothing to show for it. When 
the so-called agreement was reached last July, high-level Japanese 
officials immediately and publicly disavowed the import targets that 
President Clinton hailed as his great achievement. It turns out those 
numbers were simply not part of the agreement. The agreement was just 
another political publicity stunt, designed to convey the appearance of 
toughness. Unfortunately, creating this appearance for Clinton and his 
advisers cost the United States much credibility with Japan, not to 
mention with other countries looking for instruction on how to deal 
with American demands on future trade issues.
  The consequence of this massive retreat by the Clinton administration 
was serious and damaging for American companies and American jobs. The 
Japanese quickly realized that they had been dealing with a paper 
tiger. Suddenly, on all other fronts, negotiations with Japan came to a 
halt. U.S overtures even to begin a dialog on other issues were 
rebuffed. United States trade negotiators were told by their Japanese 
counterparts to find some other agency to address their complaints. 
This mocking of U.S. officials by a major trading partner is 
unprecedented--and prior to the Clinton years would have been 
inconceivable.
  And so, Mr. President, it is easier to understand why serious trade 
disputes with Japan were ignored by Clinton during his summit with Mr. 
Hashimoto. Clinton brought back nothing on the dispute over Japanese 
discrimination against Kodak film. He brought back nothing on the 
dispute over access to Japan for American semiconductors, one of our 
most competitive industries. Clinton brought back nothing on the 
dispute over access to the Japanese market for American insurance 
companies, another industry where the United States has a strong 
competitive advantage.

  Mr. President, how can people put all of this in perspective? There 
is one simple way to express the damage to America of Clinton's botched 
trade policy. I believe the American people would be astonished to know 
that today, the United States trade deficit with Japan is higher than 
it was when Clinton took office. That is right, it is higher. The 
merchandise trade deficit with Japan is now a staggering $60 billion--
this is $10 billion higher than when Clinton became President.
  Furthermore, figures were released last week showing that the trade 
deficit with Japan continues to climb, growing over $100 million from 
January to February of this year.
  Candidate Clinton talked a lot about trade deficits. He knew that 
trade deficits siphon our wealth and our jobs, to other countries. The 
giant trade deficit with Japan constitutes a massive transfer of wealth 
out of American communities into the hands of the Japanese. Under 
President Clinton, our trade deficit with Japan has gone up. Clinton 
has presided over the highest trade deficits with Japan in history. In 
fact, another shocking achievement of the short Clinton era is that the 
U.S. trade deficit with the world also hit a record high. He has 
ignored, or sought to divert attention from, these harmful acts. He has 
done nothing to reverse it, change it or improve it. Oh, yes, he has 
done plenty of talking, but he has done nothing to save the jobs that 
continue to be in danger.
  I believe the American people deserve to know about President 
Clinton's failed trade policy. The American people need to know about 
his new policy of camouflaging the truth. I hope that he will abandon 
this new policy that only seeks to hide his failures. Too many 
important decisions lie ahead for President Clinton to continue to 
substitute appearances for reality.

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