III

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. RES. 350

Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the Republic of India’s closed

market to United States ash exports.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 8, 2000

Mr. THOMAS (for himself and Mr. ENZI) submitted the following resolution;

which was referred to the Committee on Finance

A RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the Republic

of India’s closed market to United States ash exports.

Whereas the United States had a $5.4 billion trade deficit

with India in 1999, due in part to India’s restrictive

trade practices which keep otherwise competitive foreign

goods from entering the Indian market;

Whereas United States soda ash, a chemical used predominantly in making glass, is one of the products being kept

from entering the Indian market by those restrictive

trade practices;

Whereas India’s barriers to United States soda ash imports

include a tariff which in 1997 was 35 percent, putting it

among the highest in the world;
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SRES 350 IS

Whereas India’s tariff barriers have steadily increased since

1997 by, inter alia:

(1) a 4 percent special additional tariff introduced in

1998 on nearly all imports;

(2) an additional 10 percent surcharge added to the

applied existing tariff rates in 1999 on nearly all imports;

and

(3) a ‘‘customs simplification’’ in 1999 which increased by 5 percent tariffs previously set at 0 percent,

10 percent, 20 percent and 30 percent rates;

Whereas India’s 1999/2000 budget has further increased the

tariff on soda ash to 38.5 percent, making it the highest

in the world and creating an impossible trade barrier for

individual United States soda ash exports to overcome in

order to remain competitive;

Whereas India has erected further barriers to United States

soda ash through the imposition of a ‘‘temporary’’ order

by India’s Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices

Commission (‘‘MRTPC’’), which precludes United States

producers from exporting to India through the American

Natural Soda Ash Corporation (‘‘ANSAC’’), an export

trading joint venture which operates in strict accordance

with the provisions of the Export Trade Promotion Act

of 1917 (15 U.S. Code Sec. 61 et seq.) and the Export

Trading Company Act of 1982 (15 U.S. Code Sec. 4001

et seq.);

Whereas this MRTPC order effectively maintains a complete

and total de facto embargo on United States soda ash exports to India;

Whereas it appears that the MRTPC order was issued at the

behest of Indian soda ash producers solely to protect
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SRES 350 IS

their local market monopoly, rather than for legitimate

reasons;

Whereas since 1995 the United States Trade Representative’s (‘‘USTR’’) National Trade Estimate Report to

Congress has identified India’s denial of United States

access to its soda ash market as a high priority;

Whereas, in January 1999, in response to an ANSAC petition, the USTR initiated a ‘‘country practice’’ petition to

suspend India’s duty-free benefits under the Generalized

System of Preferences (‘‘GSP’’) program on the grounds

that India, by virtue of the foregoing tariffs and orders,

fails to provide the United States equitable and reasonable access to its soda ash market;

Whereas, on February 14, 2000, U.S. Trade Representative

Barshefsky and Secretary of Commerce Daley issued a

joint press release concluding that ‘‘U.S. soda ash is

being shut out of the Indian market;’’

Whereas, in March 2000, in apparent response to ANSAC’s

efforts to open India’s soda ash market, the MRTPC

issued a ‘‘show cause’’ order why ANSAC representatives

should not be held in criminal contempt;

Whereas the basis for that show cause order were statements

made by ANSAC representatives during testimony before

the USTR’s GSP Subcommittee at a hearing in Washington in March 1999, which statements characterized

the Indian soda ash market as closed and the actions of

the MRTPC as unfair;

Whereas the actions of the MRTPC appear to be designed to

ensure that India’s market remains closed to United

States exports; and
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Whereas the unfair closure of India’s market to United

States soda ash exports runs counter to the concepts of

fair and free trade and to the interests of India’s soda

ash consumers: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That—

2 (1) it is the sense of the Senate that India’s

3 tariffs on United States soda ash exports are exces4 sive and are designed solely to exclude unfairly

5 United States producers from the Indian market;

6 (2) the Senate strongly urges President Clinton,

7 the USTR and the Government of India to use the

8 mid-September visit to Washington of India’s Prime

9 Minister Vajpayee as an opportunity to address and

10 settle the soda ash dispute by allowing United States

11 soda ash equitable and reasonable access to the In12 dian market through the ANSAC joint venture at

13 tariff reduced rates consistent with WTO normaliza14 tion levels; and

15 (3) the Senate calls on the President and the

16 USTR, in the absence of such a settlement, prompt17 ly to begin the process of suspending India’s GSP

18 benefits.

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