Glenn English: “today the House will undoubtedly vote down this resolution and signal strong support for remaining in the World Trade…”

“today the House will undoubtedly vote down this resolution and signal strong support for remaining in the World Trade Organization. This is the right decision to make. It is the right decision to make because the WTO, and its predecessor, the GATT, have served as a catalyst to reduce both tariff and non-tariff barriers for U.S. exports. Since the formation of the GATT, average tariffs in industrialized countries have gone down from 40 to less than 4 percent; since the creation of the WTO in 1994, U.S. exports have increased by $300 billion. Of course, the WTO has also served as a useful forum to breakdown barriers to U.S. agricultural exports where bilateral negotiations could not. While I will vote against this resolution today, it is not without any reservation. Mr. Speaker, I believe the resolution on the floor today provides the ideal time to pause and reflect on the shortcomings of the current WTO system and on ways both the Congress and the Administration can make changes to the WTO structure so that it works better and rebuilds confidence in the system among our constituencies. I find the lack of any serious effort to reform the current WTO culture and structure to fix the flaws with the unsatisfactory. There are a host of problems with the WTO, and the number of problems is only growing. The WTO completely lacks any degree of transparency; hearings are closed to the public and public transcripts are not released.…”