[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 43 (Monday, April 20, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3246-S3247]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        AMERICA'S TRADE DEFICIT

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I would like to make a point that since 
the Congress took a brief recess, once again, America's trade deficit 
has increased. It is now, as I predicted in previous discussions with 
the Senate, headed towards another record high.
  Everyone talks about the tremendous progress in this Chamber and in 
this

[[Page S3247]]

Government at wrestling the budget deficit to the ground, and we have 
made great progress in doing that. But the trade deficit is at a record 
high and is continuing to set records, like a merchandise trade deficit 
of $199 billion last year. Now it is estimated to go to $224 billion 
this year. It is estimated by Standard & Poor's and by many others, 
incidentally, who gauge these things, that we will continue to have 
record trade deficits--record trade deficits.
  President Clinton was in South America recently, in Chile. The South 
American countries were concerned because the Congress did not pass 
what is called fast-track trade authority. It is interesting, when you 
talk about this hemisphere's trading, this country is not just the 
biggest kid on the block; it is the better part of the block.
  Eighty-two percent of this country's trading of $10 trillion is the 
United States of America. And to have some other country suggest to us 
that ``Gee, we've got a problem because you didn't pass fast track 
trade authority''--what on Earth are they thinking about? The fact is, 
we have constant, abiding and difficult trade problems. I would say to 
President Clinton--who I think has done a remarkable job with this 
country's economy and has policies that I support in many areas--we 
must begin to deal with this trade deficit. We cannot ignore it.
  The Asian financial crisis will make that deficit worse. We cannot 
continue to ignore the deficit. Our trade deficit is ratcheting up with 
China. It continues to increase with China and Japan. We also have a 
significant trade deficit with Mexico, and a significant trade deficit 
with Canada. The issue is: Why?
  Let me show you a statement, just last Thursday, talking about our 
trade with China. We have a nearly $50 billion trade deficit with 
China. We are a cash currency cow for China for their hard currency 
needs. It makes no sense for this country to say to China, ``Yeah, 
that's all right; you can ratchet up a $50 billion trade deficit with 
the United States.'' It hurts this country.
  Here is what is happening in China. According to a Washington Post 
article, ``Chinese sweatshops labor for U.S. retailers. In fact, the 
National Labor Committee, a private New York-based whistle-blowing 
group, conducted an investigation into 21 garment factories, and found 
workers paid pennies an hour, working excessive overtime, confined to 
crowded dormitories, fed a thin rice gruel and denied any benefits.
  Let me just add a few details. In China's southern coastal provinces, 
wages and benefits are being slashed to as low as 13 cents an hour, 
which is added to excessive overtime hours of up to 96 hours a week. 
Shifts of 14 hours, 7 days a week, are being imposed. They live 
crammed, 10 to a room, in guarded dormitories on the factory's 
premises, under constant surveillance.
  Is this fair trade? Is this, when you talk about trade competition, 
what we ought to be competing with? Is this the race to the bottom that 
we are talking about: Produce the shoes and handbags, and pay somebody 
13 cents an hour? Get a 15-year-old and put them in a plant, and work 
them 90 hours a week, and ship their handbag to a store in Dayton, Los 
Angeles or Tulsa and sell it to the consumer? Does that mean lower 
prices for the consumer or fatter profits for the corporation? And is 
it fair trade? The answer is no. Absolutely not.
  This ought not to be what we compete against. So we compete against 
13 cents an hour, and our trade deficit goes up--way up. That is fair 
trade? I do not think so. I would ask the President and others to 
understand that this Congress is not going to provide fast track trade 
authority for a President.
  I know that the President went to South America and said, ``Well, 
fast track trade authority will happen.'' It will not happen. Fast 
track trade authority is dead, and will remain dead until this country 
decides it is going to begin to solve the nettlesome, vexing trade 
problems we have, country by country and free trade agreement by free 
trade agreement.
  We have had NAFTA, we have had GATT, we have had a number of trade 
agreements, all of which have turned out to be sour. I can, but I will 
not, cite chapter and verse this morning about the avalanche of 
Canadian grain that is leaking across that border down into this 
country, undercutting our farmers' income right now, in violation, in 
my judgment, of all fair trade standards. But nothing is done about it. 
I talk about 13 cents-an-hour wages which we are expected to compete 
against, but nothing is done about it either.
  My point is, fast track is dead, and it will remain dead until and 
unless the U.S. Government decides these trade problems demand a 
solution on behalf of our country. It ought not be embarrassing for our 
country to say we do have a national interest and we are going to 
insist on that interest in our trade relationships with other 
countries.
  There are plenty of issues that will consume our time in this 
Congress between now and the middle of October when we likely will 
adjourn. I do hope between now and then, at some point someone will 
decide that this trade issue is of consequence to this country's long-
term economic future.
  We are blessed, truly blessed, as a country to have a strong, growing 
economy. I have talked before on the floor of the Senate about the fact 
that things are going well. There is no question about that. Much of 
that relates to decisions that this President has made and this 
Congress has made--some very tough decisions, some by a one-vote 
margin. The result is we have a growing economy while some other 
countries are not so fortunate.
  We have a Federal budget deficit that has largely been wrestled to 
the ground. The unemployment numbers in this country are down, way 
down. The crime rate is down. The welfare rolls are down. A lot of good 
things are happening in this country. But it is not an excuse to ignore 
the other challenges we have. One of those challenges represents this 
abiding trade deficit that is getting worse, not better. We must, it 
seems to me, find a way to respond it to and deal with it.
  I again say that we must take a look at the Asian currency collapse, 
at the failure of the Japanese to deal with the devaluation of its 
currency, with the forced-labor problems in China, and the intellectual 
piracy that goes on. One of the reasons for what is happening with 
respect to that piracy is, when we try to send a video game or a 
compact disc from this country into China, guess what the tariff is: 50 
percent.
  Here is a country that has a $50 billion trade surplus with the 
U.S.--in other words, they are selling us far more than they are buying 
from us--and when we want to ship some intellectual property over 
there, they impose a 50 percent tariff on us.
  I was in China. I talked with the President of China. I said, ``You 
can't do this. You can't shut off China to the U.S. pork market and 
stop pork shipments. You can't shut off China to wheat shipments from 
our country. You can't continue to produce, on a pirated basis, the 
kind of production that we see coming from China in compact discs and 
in other areas.'' It is not something that ever ought to be 
countenanced, and yet we have agreements to try to shut it down, and it 
does not get shut down.
  My only point is this: This problem is getting worse. This shows the 
hemorrhage of red ink on international trade with this country. It is 
getting worse, not better, and I ask not just this administration but 
this Congress to decide that this challenge is something we have a 
responsibility to meet.
  Mr. President, this afternoon we turn to an education issue, and I 
intend to come back and visit a bit this afternoon on the Coverdell 
amendment and a range of amendments that will be offered to it dealing 
with the subject of education. In the meantime, I yield the floor and 
suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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