III 

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; 


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•SRES 459 IS

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 SysVerDate Aug 31 2005 21:45 May 03, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR459.IS SR459

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tem 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 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the 

2 United States should not be a signatory to any agreement 

3 or protocol with respect to the Doha Development Round 

4 of the World Trade Organization negotiations unless— 

5 (1) a NAMA agreement would lead to a signifi6 cant reduction or elimination of the substantial in7 equities in the average level of industrial tariff rates 

8 of all World Trade Organization members; 


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1 (2) substantial increases in market access and 

2 United States exports are achieved through reduc3 tions in average tariff rates applied to manufactured 

4 goods; 

5 (3) sectoral tariff agreements are included that 

6 would result in a significant number of countries 

7 eliminating tariffs on products and in sectors that 

8 would increase United States exports; and 

9 (4) real new market access is achieved through 

10 the dismantling of nontariff barriers, and particu11 larly in sectors of primary importance to American 

12 manufacturers. 

Æ 


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