Jay Rockefeller: “I am rising to talk about a problem that persists year after year, and a bill to do something about it. I'm speaking of…”

“I am rising to talk about a problem that persists year after year, and a bill to do something about it. I'm speaking of our trade deficit, which is out of control. Certainly, we are making progress on some micro-economic levels, and the Clinton administration has hammered out more than 70 different trade agreements over the last 2-plus years--14 with Japan alone. These are helping some industries, some workers, and some parts of our economy. But they have done nothing to shrink the trade deficit. Clearly, more must be done. The bill I am introducing today, the Open Markets and Fair Trade Act of 1995, will evaluate the current conditions of markets around the world for American products and negotiate access to those markets. It also gives the President and Congress a new tool to use in those negotiations--the threat of reciprocal trade action. Basically the bill tells our trading partners that if they refuse to give our products reasonable market access, we may impose the same kind of restrictions on their products.”