[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 156 (Thursday, December 6, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7653-S7654]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        RUSSIA AND MOLDOVA PNTR

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, in this day and age, there is simply no 
denying that our economy is very much a part of a global economy and 
affected by it. Gone are the days when businesses relied solely on 
growing their customer base for domestic markets. Today, 95 percent of 
the world's consumers live outside the United States, and we are 
producing for those consumers as well as domestic ones.
  One action that would help our economy improve at a faster rate would 
be to increase trade opportunities overseas for American businesses and 
farmers. Increased trade helps create jobs, increase incomes, and 
expand opportunities for innovation.
  As we have seen over the course of history and also repeating what 
President John F. Kennedy often spoke about, free and fair trade helps 
all boats rise;
  That is to say, countries willing to lower their trade barriers and 
allow fair and competitive trade will see growth in their economies.
  However, history also shows even among nations with good relations, 
trade disputes still arise. That is why we need a forum to settle 
international disputes such as the World Trade Organization does. The 
WTO allows American businesses a place to take complaints against 
unfair trade barriers and have a judicial result.
  For 19 years Russia has worked toward entry into the World Trade 
Organization. Now they are in the World Trade Organization. I support 
Russia being in the World Trade Organization. As the world's eleventh 
largest economy with over 140 million citizens, it is obviously an 
important market for U.S. businesses and farmers looking to expand 
their overseas markets.
  Some of Iowa's heavy equipment manufacturers are already exporting 
millions of dollars of equipment to Russia.
  Agricultural equipment manufactured in facilities all around Iowa is 
being used by Russian farmers as they look to increase their 
agricultural efficiency and productivity.
  The World Trade Organization accession process afforded us an 
opportunity to address Russian tariffs against our products. In the 
accession agreement, Russia has agreed to lower its tariffs for these 
construction and agricultural equipment products. That obviously means 
increased exports and an increase in good American jobs.
  By far the largest percentage of Iowa exports to Russia consists of 
grains, meats, and other agricultural products being produced by Iowa's 
farmers. Russia's accession into the WTO has been an important issue 
for our pork producers, for our cattlemen, and for our grain farmers. 
Iowa's farmers are some of the best in the world. They are truly 
helping to feed the world. Expanding opportunities in overseas markets 
is vital to the future of American agriculture. Russia has been and I 
think will continue to be an important market for our farmers. But it 
does not come without its challenges.
  Russia has repeatedly raised barriers to the U.S. imports based upon 
restrictions not supported by sound science. So now I am going to tell 
you about some problems I have with Russia, even though I want Russia 
to be in the WTO and I want this legislation to pass so it can be fully 
implemented.
  I will share some things we have problems with regarding Russia. Let 
us take pork exports as an example. In 2008, U.S. pork sales to Russia 
totaled over 200,000 metric tons. Since that time exports have fallen 
nearly 60 percent due to Russia's reduced import quota and questionable 
sanitary and phytosanitary restrictions. I am pleased our trade 
negotiators were able to negotiate a satisfactory tariff rate quota for 
our pork. But this administration under President Obama has fallen 
short in its obligations to stand with U.S. farmers on these sanitary 
and phytosanitary standards; in other words, standing up for using 
sound science instead of some illegitimate reason for keeping our 
products out of Russia.
  I have communicated time and again what I expected of this 
administration because they have to negotiate for us. In June 2011, I 
led a bipartisan letter with Senator Nelson of Nebraska and 26 other 
Senators to Ambassador Kirk requesting his negotiators follow the steps 
we have taken during consideration of past WTO accessions. I referred 
to China and Vietnam as examples for this administration to follow. 
When these countries joined the WTO, we used these opportunities to 
obtain firm sanitary-phytosanitary commitments from those countries 
that went beyond the WTO sanitary-phytosanitary agreement. In 
particular, we obtained further commitments in areas of meat inspection 
equivalence.
  In addition, in June of this year, I sent another bipartisan letter 
with Senator Nelson of Nebraska and 32 other Senate colleagues to 
President Obama again laying out our request that he stand for American 
farmers and demand more of the Russian Government on sanitary-
phytosanitary issues which would very much benefit our agriculture 
products going into Russia.
  As we know, this administration did not use the accession process to 
fully address these crucial issues so they have to be addressed outside 
of this process where we do not quite have the leverage we would 
otherwise have. That is why I requested language that is in this 
legislation to require our trade negotiators to keep working with these 
unfair trade barriers and report to Congress on their progress. Our 
farmers are some of the very best in the world. We cannot allow their 
products to be discriminated against based upon arbitrary nonscientific 
and unjustifiable reasons.
  In addition to the concerns I repeatedly raised on sanitary-
phytosanitary issues, there are other issues at stake with Russia. It 
is a shame that we are handling this bill in a lameduck session when 
time is so limited. This bill should have been debated at a time

[[Page S7654]]

when the Senate could more fully evaluate the current course of our 
relationship with Russia.
  Russia continues to cause challenges in regard to Syria, Iran, and 
other regions of the world where the United States and our allies are 
trying to do what is right in the name of human dignity and also in the 
name of national security. I am concerned with Russia's own human 
rights issues. That is why I am very glad the Magnitsky provisions are 
in this bill.
  As ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I remain 
troubled by the lack of progress Russia has made on protecting 
intellectual property rights. Furthermore, Russian officials need to 
step up their efforts in combating cyber crimes. There continues to be 
a large number of cyber attacks that originate from within Russia's 
borders.
  All that being said, I realize having Russia in the WTO is a very 
positive step. One of the goals of international trade is to build upon 
relationships between nations. Having Russia in the WTO fold will 
hopefully benefit our nations as we work together on so many issues 
that concern us, plus, as I have stated before, having the WTO forum 
available to help our businesses and farmers when disputes arise is 
important.
  I have said I want Russia in the WTO. I have said there are good 
opportunities for us there. I just spoke as to why I think there are 
problems with Russia that need to be worked out. President Putin is not 
going to pay any attention to what I say, but I want him to know these 
are issues of the re-Sovietization of the country and I do not like it. 
I favor this bill; I favor working with Russia. But they are becoming 
more of a problem. I look forward to hearing from our trade negotiators 
in the not too distant future on their progress in getting Russia to 
remove the unjustifiable barriers to our agricultural products.
  Furthermore, as President Obama looks toward other trade initiatives 
in the future, I hope this accession process will be a lesson. This 
process could have been better, in other words, using the leverage the 
United States has during these accession negotiations to get a lot of 
these disputes settled as we did with China and Vietnam that we have 
not fully done with Russia.
  The President has called on Congress to pass this legislation for 
some time. But his lack of consultation with Congress and disregard for 
the concerns raised by this Senator and other Members has only served 
to delay this whole process. We cannot keep approaching trade issues in 
this fashion. This administration needs to have real and substantive 
consultation with Congress.
  Furthermore, when there are opportunities to stand for American 
businesses and farmers against unfair trade barriers such as the 
sanitary and phytosanitary issues in Russia, the President needs to 
seize that opportunity the same way it was seized in the case of 
Vietnam and in the case of China's accession.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Brown of Ohio). The Senator from Florida 
is recognized.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to 
speak as in morning business
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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