Bob Dole: “the World Trade Organization has just issued its first decision in a trade case brought under the new dispute settlement…”

“the World Trade Organization has just issued its first decision in a trade case brought under the new dispute settlement system. The case was brought against the United States by Venezuela and Brazil. The allegation was that a U.S. environmental regulation, issued under the Clean Air Act, discriminated against imported gasoline. On Monday, the United States lost the case. President Clinton must now decide whether to comply with the WTO decision. If he decides the United States should comply, he must announce a plan for doing so. I believe the American people deserve an explanation from President Clinton about this case. They deserve an explanation about what this case might mean in the future for other U.S. laws and regulations. Clearly there will be future WTO cases where the United States will be the losing party. We cannot expect to win every case. Perhaps Monday's case was properly decided. But it seems to me that our laws should continue to be a matter for Americans, not international judges, to determine. We should decide what our environmental laws will be. We should decide what kinds of regulations are necessary to protect our environment. We should decide that our children deserve cleaner air and purer water, not some bureaucrat in Geneva. We do not always agree, and that is part of our democratic process. But at least we work out for ourselves what laws and regulations are best for America.”