[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 44 (Thursday, April 1, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H2038]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRADE DEFICIT AND GAS PRICES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to speak about two separate 
issues but both related to the economic well-being, the pocketbooks of 
the American people.
  First, the trade deficit. The Washington Post reported on February 16 
that our trade deficit reached a record $489 billion in 2003. The story 
said that ``while the trade report showed the robust growth in U.S. 
consumption, it also provided a stark reminder of problems on the 
economy's productive side. In particular, the lack of employment growth 
which is attributable in part to the loss of jobs to foreign 
competition.''
  At a hearing before the subcommittee I chair, the Subcommittee on 
Water Resources and Environment, the head of the World Shipping Council 
said ships were coming to the U.S. full but leaving empty.

                              {time}  1815

  We cannot sustain this type of deficit for many more years. By far 
the largest trade imbalance is with China and will probably be around 
$150 billion this year. With a tiny bit less than 4 percent of the 
world's population, we buy 25 percent of the world's goods. This means 
that every other country desperately wants into our markets. We have 
tremendous trade leverage that we have not used as we should have. It 
has been used mainly to help large multinational companies which have 
had great influence, too much influence, in our government.
  However, our trade agreements have been detrimental to the majority 
of American small and medium-sized businesses and to our workers. I 
believe other countries are probably amazed that we have not been 
tougher in trade negotiations.
  We should tell any nation with which we have a large trade imbalance, 
starting with China, that we want to be friends, that we want cultural 
and educational exchanges, tourism, and especially trade; but we want 
that trade to be both free and fair. We should tell the Chinese and 
others to start looking for products they can buy from us because if 
they do not start bringing down the trade deficits within a reasonable 
time, we will have to renegotiate some of our trade agreements.
  William Hawkins, Senior Fellow, at the U.S. Business and Industry 
Council, summed it up best in a recent column in the Washington Times: 
``Commerce is driven by competition, making trade rivalry a part of the 
larger struggle of nations for independence, security, and 
prosperity.''
  Mr. Speaker, I am sick and tired of seeing so many millions of 
American jobs going to other countries, and there is tremendous concern 
about this all across this Nation.
  Secondly, Mr. Speaker, gas prices. Gas prices have risen to some of 
their highest levels ever, primarily for two reasons: one, we are being 
robbed by foreign oil producers; and, two, extreme environmentalists 
oppose any oil production in the U.S. The Arctic National Wildlife 
Refuge is a 19.8 million acre site, 35 times the size of the Great 
Smokey Mountains. Yet some left-wing extremists oppose drilling on some 
2,000 acres in the Arctic Nation Wildlife Refuge, about \1/100\ of 1 
percent of the refuge, in a part that is a frozen tundra with no trees 
or bushes for many, many miles. We have not opened a new oil refinery 
since 1975, and something like 36 have been forced to close since 1980 
due to too many rules and regulations. If we do not, Mr. Speaker, we 
will become even more vulnerable to foreign nations and damage both our 
economy and our national security.
  These environmental extremists almost always come from very wealthy 
or upper-income families, and perhaps they do not realize how much they 
are hurting the poor and the lower-income and the working people of 
this country, but we need to produce more U.S. oil to bring down these 
gas prices.

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