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[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 459 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 459

      Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding United States 
participation and agreement in the Doha Development Round of the World 
                          Trade Organization.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 2, 2006

Mr. Bayh submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                          Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
      Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding United States 
participation and agreement in the Doha Development Round of the World 
                          Trade Organization.

Whereas in 2001, World Trade Organization members launched the Doha Development 
        Agenda, a new round of multilateral trade negotiations with a core 
        objective of increasing market access for nonagricultural products, such 
        as industrial goods;
Whereas Ministers of World Trade Organization members agreed in the Doha 
        Declaration that the aim of the nonagricultural market access (NAMA) 
        negotiations is to reduce or eliminate industrial tariffs, with an 
        emphasis on high tariffs and nontariff barriers;
Whereas, at the 2005 World Trade Organization Ministerial in Hong Kong, members 
        renewed this commitment by agreeing to adopt a tariff-cutting formula 
        geared toward the reduction or elimination of high tariffs;
Whereas, at the 2005 World Trade Organization Ministerial in Hong Kong, members 
        agreed once again to reduce or eliminate trade-distorting nontariff 
        barriers, and to focus on liberalization in certain sectors;
Whereas, at the 2005 World Trade Organization Ministerial in Hong Kong, members 
        agreed to establish by April 30, 2006, the formulas or approaches 
        (commonly referred to as ``modalities'') for tariff reductions and that 
        time frame has now been extended;
Whereas manufactured goods account for over 70 percent of world merchandise 
        trade and 87 percent of the United States total merchandise exports;
Whereas substantial differences in average bound industrial tariff rates among 
        World Trade Organization members have caused vast inequities in the 
        multilateral trading system, placing American companies and workers at a 
        disadvantage;
Whereas the United States has a simple average bound tariff rate of 3.2 percent 
        for industrial goods with 38.5 percent of industrial tariff lines 
        providing for duty-free treatment;
Whereas foreign tariffs on industrial goods are significantly higher than United 
        States rates, and countries with high industrial tariff rates provide 
        few, if any, duty-free tariff treatment;
Whereas many countries that maintain high industrial tariffs are benefiting 
        under the United States Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), a 
        program granting duty-free treatment to specified products that are 
        imported from more than 140 designated countries and territories;
Whereas in 2005, the United States annual deficit for trade in goods reached a 
        new high of $782,100,000,000;
Whereas the United States share of global industrial goods trade has shrunk over 
        the past decade, and 3,000,000 domestic manufacturing jobs have been 
        lost since June 2000;
Whereas producers of industrial goods, particularly manufacturers, are critical 
        to the health of the United States economy;
Whereas greater access to foreign markets will generate economic growth, raise 
        wages, bolster research and development, and increase standards of 
        living; and
Whereas international trade can be a dynamic engine for economic growth and job 
        creation, provided that America's entrepreneurs and innovators are 
        afforded nondiscriminatory treatment in the global economy: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the United States 
should not be a signatory to any agreement or protocol with respect to 
the Doha Development Round of the World Trade Organization negotiations 
unless--
            (1) a NAMA agreement would lead to a significant reduction 
        or elimination of the substantial inequities in the average 
        level of industrial tariff rates of all World Trade 
        Organization members;
            (2) substantial increases in market access and United 
        States exports are achieved through reductions in average 
        tariff rates applied to manufactured goods;
            (3) sectoral tariff agreements are included that would 
        result in a significant number of countries eliminating tariffs 
        on products and in sectors that would increase United States 
        exports; and
            (4) real new market access is achieved through the 
        dismantling of nontariff barriers, and particularly in sectors 
        of primary importance to American manufacturers.
                                 <all>
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