Nancy L. Johnson: “Direct and indirect subsidies are an extreme problem in creating not only a free trading community across the world but…”

“Direct and indirect subsidies are an extreme problem in creating not only a free trading community across the world but a fair trading community. And while we have struggled mightily to comply with the World Trade Organization's requirement that we repeal a good and significant piece of the tax law governing American companies' earnings abroad, we have found that very difficult to do because there are so many ways in which our competitors do help support their companies and effectively reduce their companies' costs in the world trading community through their tax structures. So while this resolution focuses on tax issues between the United States of America and particularly the European Union in a way that I think is very productive and needed to set the stage for the next round of reform, I also want to mention just a few of the kinds of subsidies that the Europeans particularly are using and that for some reason are not being attacked by either our Trade Representative or seen as a problem under the World Trading Organization.”