[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 9 (Monday, March 7, 1994)]
[Pages 422-423]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Executive Order 12891--Identification of Trade Expansion Priorities

March 3, 1994

    By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and 
the laws of the United States of America, including sections 141 and 
301-310 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (the ``Act'') (19 U.S.C. 
2171, 2411-2420), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, and to 
ensure that the trade policies of the United States advance, to the 
greatest extent possible, the export of the products and services of the 
United States and that trade policy resources are used efficiently, it 
is hereby ordered as follows:

    Section 1. Identification. (a) Within 6 months of the submission of 
the National Trade Estimate Report (required by section 181(b) of the 
Act (19 U.S.C. 2241)) for 1994 and 1995, the United States Trade 
Representative (``Trade Representative'') shall review United States 
trade expansion priorities and identify priority foreign country 
practices, the elimination of which is likely to have the most 
significant potential to increase United States exports, either directly 
or through the establishment of a beneficial precedent. The Trade 
Representative shall submit to the Committee on Finance of the Senate 
and the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, and 
shall publish in the Federal Register, a report on the priority foreign 
country practices identified.

    (b) In identifying priority foreign country practices under 
paragraph (a) of this section, the Trade Representative shall take into 
account all relevant factors, including:
      (1) the major barriers and trade distorting practices described in 
      the National Trade Estimate Report;

      (2) the trade agreements to which a foreign country is a party and 
      its compliance with those agreements;

      (3) the medium-term and long-term implications of foreign 
      government procurement plans; and

      (4) the international competitive position and export potential of 
      United States products and services.

    (c) The Trade Representative may include in the report, if 
appropriate, a description of the foreign country practices that may in 
the future warrant identification as priority foreign country practices. 
The Trade Representative also may include a statement about other 
foreign country practices that were not identified because they are 
already being addressed by provisions of United States trade law, 
existing bilateral trade agreements, or in trade negotiations with other 
countries and progress is being made toward their elimination.

    Sec. 2. Initiation of Investigation. Within 21 days of the 
submission of the report required by paragraph (a) of section 1, the

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Trade Representative shall initiate under section 302(b)(1) of the Act 
(19 U.S.C. 2412(b)(1)) investigations under title III, chapter 1, of the 
Act with respect to all of the priority foreign country practices 
identified.
    Sec. 3. Agreements for the Elimination of Barriers. In the 
consultations with a foreign country that the Trade Representative is 
required to request under section 303(a) of the Act (19 U.S.C. 2413(a)) 
with respect to an investigation initiated by reason of section 2 of 
this order, the Trade Representative shall seek to negotiate an 
agreement that provides for the elimination of the practices that are 
the subject of the investigation as quickly as possible or, if that is 
not feasible, provides for compensatory trade benefits. The Trade 
Representative shall monitor any agreement entered into under this 
section pursuant to the provisions of section 306 of the Act (19 U.S.C. 
2416).
    Sec. 4. Reports. The Trade Representative shall include in the 
semiannual report required by section 309 of the Act (19 U.S.C. 2419) a 
report on the status of any investigation initiated pursuant to section 
2 of this order and, where appropriate, the extent to which such 
investigations have led to increased opportunities for the export of 
products and services of the United States.
    Sec. 5. Presidential Direction. The authorities delegated pursuant 
to this order shall be exercised subject to any subsequent direction by 
the President in a particular matter.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
March 3, 1994.

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 1:24 p.m., March 4, 
1994]

Note: This Executive order will be published in the Federal Register on 
March 8.