[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 52 (Friday, May 1, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S4139]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      OUR TRADE POLICY WITH CHINA

  Mr. DORGAN. I noticed that China decided recently that it is going to 
ban direct marketing in China. That means that Amway, Avon, Mary Kay 
Corporation and similar companies are told they cannot any longer 
direct market. Apparently, some scams were going on in China--not by 
these companies, mind you--that was causing some problems, so China 
just said no more direct marketing in this country.
  Our trade ambassador, Charlene Barshefsky, immediately went into 
action and met with China's Minister, Wu Yi, on Friday to discuss the 
issue. And that is fine. I do not know much about Mary Kay, Avon or 
Amway, but they are aggrieved. They are legitimate businesses, but 
China has banned them. They ought to be able to do business in China. I 
think it is fine for the trade ambassador to jump in and say, ``Why 
don't you own up to our trade agreements here and let these people 
market?''
  But I just ask this: Could we be as aggressive on behalf of wheat and 
meat as we are on behalf of cosmetics? Could we be as aggressive on 
behalf of farmers who cannot get enough wheat into China?
  We have been dealing with China for a decade on this thing called TCK 
smut. China, for example, has displaced America as the major wheat 
supplier to China, even as they send us all their shirts and shoes and 
trousers and trinkets. And they have ratcheted up this huge trade 
surplus with us, but we cannot get enough wheat into China. We cannot 
get enough meat into China. We can't get hardly any pork into China. We 
can't get enough beef or chicken into China.
  I say to our trade representatives, that is fine. You be aggressive 
about cosmetics and you be aggressive about direct selling, but why 
don't you also start being as aggressive for wheat and meat? Why don't 
you be aggressive on behalf of individual American farmers who all 
across this country discover they cannot get their products into a 
country, China, that is ratcheting up a huge trade surplus with us?
  We have become an unbelievable cash cow for China's hard currency 
needs. Shame on us for a trade policy that allows that. I just ask the 
trade ambassador, get busy. Get aggressive. It is fine that you care 
about Amway, Mary Kay, Avon, and other direct sellers. But get busy on 
behalf of those who get up at sunrise and do chores, who plow fields, 
who produce wheat and meat and want to get that into China as well.
  Mr. President, that was therapeutic to say on a Friday anyway.

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