[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 50 (Tuesday, May 2, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3900-S3901]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

                                 ______
                                 

  SENATE RESOLUTION 459--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING 
UNITED STATES PARTICIPATION AND AGREEMENT IN THE DOHA DEVELOPMENT ROUND 
                    OF THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION

  Mr. BAYH submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Finance:

                              S. Res. 459

       Whereas in 2001, World Trade Organization members launched 
     the Doha Development Agenda, a new round of multilateral 
     trade negotiations with a core objective of increasing market 
     access for nonagricultural products, such as industrial 
     goods;
       Whereas Ministers of World Trade Organization members 
     agreed in the Doha Declaration that the aim of the 
     nonagricultural market access (NAMA) negotiations is to 
     reduce or eliminate industrial tariffs, with an emphasis on 
     high tariffs and nontariff barriers;
       Whereas, at the 2005 World Trade Organization Ministerial 
     in Hong Kong, members renewed this commitment by agreeing to 
     adopt a tariff-cutting formula geared toward the reduction or 
     elimination of high tariffs;
       Whereas, at the 2005 World Trade Organization Ministerial 
     in Hong Kong, members agreed once again to reduce or 
     eliminate trade-distorting nontariff barriers, and to focus 
     on liberalization in certain sectors;

[[Page S3901]]

       Whereas, at the 2005 World Trade Organization Ministerial 
     in Hong Kong, members agreed to establish by April 30, 2006, 
     the formulas or approaches (commonly referred to as 
     ``modalities'') for tariff reductions and that time frame has 
     now been extended;
       Whereas manufactured goods account for over 70 percent of 
     world merchandise trade and 87 percent of the United States 
     total merchandise exports;
       Whereas substantial differences in average bound industrial 
     tariff rates among World Trade Organization members have 
     caused vast inequities in the multilateral trading system, 
     placing American companies and workers at a disadvantage;
       Whereas the United States has a simple average bound tariff 
     rate of 3.2 percent for industrial goods with 38.5 percent of 
     industrial tariff lines providing for duty-free treatment;
       Whereas foreign tariffs on industrial goods are 
     significantly higher than United States rates, and countries 
     with high industrial tariff rates provide few, if any, duty-
     free tariff treatment;
       Whereas many countries that maintain high industrial 
     tariffs are benefiting under the United States Generalized 
     System of Preferences (GSP), a program granting duty-free 
     treatment to specified products that are imported from more 
     than 140 designated countries and territories;
       Whereas in 2005, the United States annual deficit for trade 
     in goods reached a new high of $782,100,000,000;
       Whereas the United States share of global industrial goods 
     trade has shrunk over the past decade, and 3,000,000 domestic 
     manufacturing jobs have been lost since June 2000;
       Whereas producers of industrial goods, particularly 
     manufacturers, are critical to the health of the United 
     States economy;
       Whereas greater access to foreign markets will generate 
     economic growth, raise wages, bolster research and 
     development, and increase standards of living; and
       Whereas international trade can be a dynamic engine for 
     economic growth and job creation, provided that America's 
     entrepreneurs and innovators are afforded nondiscriminatory 
     treatment in the global economy: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the 
     United States should not be a signatory to any agreement or 
     protocol with respect to the Doha Development Round of the 
     World Trade Organization negotiations unless--
       (1) a NAMA agreement would lead to a significant reduction 
     or elimination of the substantial inequities in the average 
     level of industrial tariff rates of all World Trade 
     Organization members;
       (2) substantial increases in market access and United 
     States exports are achieved through reductions in average 
     tariff rates applied to manufactured goods;
       (3) sectoral tariff agreements are included that would 
     result in a significant number of countries eliminating 
     tariffs on products and in sectors that would increase United 
     States exports; and
       (4) real new market access is achieved through the 
     dismantling of nontariff barriers, and particularly in 
     sectors of primary importance to American manufacturers.

                          ____________________