III

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. CON. RES. 55

Establishing objectives for the next round of multilateral trade negotiations.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 8, 1999

Mr. BAUCUS submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred

to the Committee on Finance

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Establishing objectives for the next round of multilateral

trade negotiations.

Whereas obtaining open, equitable, and reciprocal market access will benefit both the United States and its trading

partners;

Whereas eliminating or reducing trade barriers and trade distorting practices will enhance export opportunities for

American industry, agricultural products, and services;

Whereas strengthening international disciplines on restrictive

or trade-distorting import and export practices will improve the global commercial environment;

Whereas preserving existing rules that prohibit unfair trade

practices is a necessary adjunct to promoting commerce;
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Whereas expanding trade will foster economic growth required for full employment in the United States and the

global economy;

Whereas growth in international trade has immediate and

significant consequences for sound natural resource use

and environmental protection, and for the practice of sustainable development;

Whereas the World Trade Organization is the single most important mechanism by which global commerce is regulated; and

Whereas the United States will host the World Trade Organization Ministerial Meeting in Seattle in November 1999:

Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives

2 concurring),

3 SECTION 1. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

4 It is the sense of Congress that the executive branch

5 of the Government should pursue the objectives described

6 in this concurrent resolution in any negotiations under7 taken with respect to the next round of multilateral trade

8 negotiations at the World Trade Organization Ministerial

9 Meeting in Seattle, Washington.

10 SEC. 2. AGRICULTURE.

11 The negotiating objectives of the United States with

12 respect to agriculture should be the following:

13 (1) To eliminate all current and prohibit all fu14 ture price subsidies and export taxes.
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1 (2) To negotiate stronger disciplines on state2 owned trading enterprises, including cross-subsidiza3 tion, reserved market share, and price undercutting.

4 (3) With respect to tariffs, to pursue zero-for5 zero or harmonization agreements for products

6 where current tariff levels are so disparate that pro7 portional reductions would yield an unbalanced re8 sult.

9 (4) To target peak tariffs for reduction on a

10 specific timetable.

11 (5) To eliminate all tariffs that are less than 5

12 percent.

13 (6) To negotiate an agreement that binds all

14 tariffs at zero wherever possible.

15 (7) To phase out all tariff rate quotas.

16 (8) To eliminate all market-distorting domestic

17 subsidies.

18 (9) To eliminate technology-based discrimina19 tion of agricultural commodities.

20 (10) To negotiate agriculture and nonagri21 culture issues as a single undertaking, with full im22 plementation of any early agreement contingent on

23 an acceptable final package.

24 (11) To reach agreements to eliminate unilat25 eral agricultural sanctions as a tool of foreign policy.
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1 SEC. 3. SERVICES.

2 The negotiating objectives of the United States with

3 respect to services should be the following:

4 (1) To achieve binding commitments on market

5 access and national treatment.

6 (2) To achieve broad participation from all

7 World Trade Organization members in the negotia8 tion of any agreement.

9 (3) To proceed on a ‘‘negative list’’ basis so

10 that all services will be covered unless specifically

11 listed.

12 (4) To prevent discrimination based on the

13 mode of delivery, including electronic delivery.

14 (5) To negotiate disciplines on transparency

15 and responsiveness of domestic regulations of serv16 ices.

17 SEC. 4. INDUSTRIAL MARKET ACCESS.

18 The negotiating objectives of the United States with

19 respect to industrial market access should be the fol20 lowing:

21 (1) To pursue zero-for-zero or harmonization

22 agreements for products where current tariff levels

23 are so disparate that proportional reductions would

24 yield an unbalanced result.

25 (2) To target peak tariffs for reduction on a

26 specific timetable.
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1 (3) To eliminate all tariffs that are less than 5

2 percent.

3 (4) To negotiate agreements that bind tariffs at

4 zero wherever possible.

5 (5) To achieve broad participation in all harmo6 nization efforts.

7 (6) To expand the Information Technology

8 Agreement product coverage and participation.

9 (7) To make duty-free treatment of electronic

10 transmissions permanent.

11 (8) To negotiate short timetables for acceler12 ated tariff elimination in sectors identified in prior

13 international trade meetings, particularly in environ14 mental goods.

15 SEC. 5. OTHER TRADE-RELATED ISSUES.

16 The negotiating objectives of the United States with

17 respect to other trade-related issues should be the fol18 lowing:

19 (1) To achieve broad participation in Mutual

20 Recognition Agreements (MRA’s) on product stand21 ards, conformity assessment, and certification proce22 dures.

23 (2) To expand the scope of the Government

24 Procurement Agreement and make it part of the

25 World Trade Organization undertaking.
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1 (3) To strengthen protection of intellectual

2 property, including patents, trademarks, trade se3 crets, and industrial layout.

4 (4) To complete the harmonization of rules of

5 origin.

6 (5) To strengthen prohibitions against manda7 tory technology transfer under the Trade-Related In8 vestment Measures Agreement.

9 (6) To broaden agreements on customs-related

10 issues to facilitate the rapid movement of goods.

11 (7) To make permanent and binding the mora12 torium on tariffs on electronic transmissions.

13 (8) To establish a consensus that electronic

14 commerce is neither exclusively a good nor exclu15 sively a service, and develop rules for transparency,

16 notification, and review of domestic regulations.

17 (9) To reach a global agreement on liberal

18 treatment of digital products in a technologically

19 neutral manner.

20 (10) To negotiate an agreement for determining

21 when multilateral environmental agreements are con22 sistent with the principles of the World Trade Orga23 nization.
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1 (11) To undertake early review of potential en2 vironmental impacts of all global agreements with a

3 view toward mitigating any adverse effects.

4 (12) To reach agreement that goods and serv5 ices produced by forced, prison, or child labor are

6 not protected by international trade rules.

7 (13) To establish a mechanism for joint re8 search and between the World Trade Organization

9 and the International Labor Organization (ILO).

10 (14) To institute explicit procedures for inclu11 sion of core labor standards in the country reports

12 of the World Trade Organization Trade Policy Re13 view Mechanism.

14 SEC. 6. WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION INSTITUTIONAL

15 ISSUES.

16 The negotiating objectives of the United States with

17 respect to World Trade Organization institutional issues

18 should be the following:

19 (1) To reach agreement not to implement any

20 new trade restrictive measures during the 3-year ne21 gotiating period beginning with the Seattle Ministe22 rial Meeting.

23 (2) To broaden membership in the World Trade

24 Organization by accelerating accessions.
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1 (3) To shorten the timeframes of dispute reso2 lution.

3 (4) To increase transparency, citizen access,

4 and responsiveness to submissions from nongovern5 mental organizations.

6 (5) To strengthen disciplines governing the cov7 erage and implementation of free trade agreements.

8 (6) To reach an agreement to cooperate with

9 the International Monetary Fund, the International

10 Bank for Reconstruction and Development, United

11 Nations organizations, and international economic

12 institutions in trade-related policy matters.

13 SEC. 7. ISSUES NOT OPEN TO NEGOTIATION.

14 In all negotiations, the United States Trade Rep15 resentative should ensure that the negotiations do not

16 weaken existing agreements or create opportunities for the

17 imposition of new barriers in the following areas:

18 (1) Dumping and antidumping.

19 (2) Competition policy.

20 (3) Investment.

21 (4) Textiles and apparel.

22 SEC. 8. TRANSMITTAL OF RESOLUTION.

23 The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy

24 of this concurrent resolution to the President.

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