Political Quotes

“Mr. President, now I would like to speak to the issue and several issues that deal with international trade. During the last 2 years, there has been more talk about international trade in this town than at just about any other point since this President has been President or, you might say, over a long period of time in Washington. When I was elected to the Senate in 1980, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, known as GATT, was the main guiding document on international trade. GATT was signed by 23 nations in Geneva on October 30, 1947, a little more than 2 years after the destruction of World War II. It remained the institutional foundation for global trade until January 1, 1995. That day is when the World Trade Organization--we refer to it as WTO--was born with 81 charter members, including this great country of the United States. The WTO has been in place now for 24 years, serving as the clearinghouse for our rules-based international trading system. Since the start of the WTO, international trade volumes have increased by 250 percent. Countries representing 98 percent of global merchandise trade are currently members of the WTO, with 22 more countries officially working toward joining. Over all, the WTO is moving global commerce forward just as planned. The rules-based trading system it promotes has been very successful, integrating people across the world into the global economy. I also must acknowledge that international trade can, at times, be disruptive.…”