[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 142 (Friday, October 4, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1923-E1924]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    PROTECT U.S. INTERESTS AND JOBS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JOHN JOSEPH MOAKLEY

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 4, 1996

  Mr. MOAKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend a recent action 
taken by the Clinton administration on behalf of U.S. businesses and 
their thousands of employees in Massachusetts.
  Earlier this year I wrote to USTR, to the Secretary of Commerce, and 
to the Secretary of State, urging decisive action to combat unfair 
trade practices by Argentina that keep United States products out of 
their marketplace. Argentina acted in direct violation of its 
obligations under the GATT and WTO--where it had committed to 
maintaining tariffs on footwear and apparel at no more than 35 percent. 
Even this level was quite high. In the U.S., import tariffs on footwear 
are in the 8 to 10 percent range. However, Argentina suddenly imposed 
footwear duties up to 150 percent, violating their agreements under the 
GATT and WTO. Ambassador Barshefsky has just announced that the U.S. is 
challenging these unfair duties by invoking the WTO section 301 dispute 
settlement mechanism. I applaud the administration's use of this 
initiative to protect U.S. interests and jobs.
  In my district, for example, the Reebok company employs over 2,000 
Massachusetts citizens in good family-wage jobs. For Reebok, as well as 
other major athletic footwear brands, the U.S. constitutes 50 percent 
of their market, while world-wide sales provide the other 50 percent. 
In this global economy, growth cannot occur if other nations close 
their markets to our exports. Doing so denies their own consumers 
access to U.S. products

[[Page E1924]]

and violates their international treaty responsibilities. But, most 
importantly, they jeopardize the continued employment of thousands of 
Americans in my congressional district and around the Nation whose jobs 
depend upon a fair and open market.

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