IV

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 138

Expressing the sense of the Congress with respect to Saudi Arabia and

the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

AUGUST 6, 1993

Mr. GEJDENSON submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was

referred jointly to the Committees on Foreign Affairs and Ways and Means

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Congress with respect to Saudi

Arabia and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

(GATT).

Whereas the Arab League has maintained a secondary and

tertiary boycott since the early 1950’s against United

States and other countries that have commercial ties with

Israel;

Whereas the United States has a long-standing policy opposing the Arab League boycott, and United States law prohibits United States firms from complying with the boycott and prohibits the provision of information to Arab

countries to demonstrate compliance with the boycott;

Whereas President Clinton and Secretary of State Christopher have engaged in a major antiboycott initiative de-
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signed to end the enforcement of the secondary and tertiary aspects of the Arab League boycott;

Whereas this initiative is long overdue given that the Arab

League boycott has cost Israel an estimated

$44,000,000,000 over the past 40 years in lost investments and commercial opportunities;

Whereas Saudi Arabia is a member of the Arab League, and

has enforced the secondary and tertiary Arab League

boycott;

Whereas Saudi Arabia requested boycott-related information

from United States companies nearly 1,300 times in fiscal year 1991, a level of boycott requests higher than

most Arab League countries;

Whereas members of the United States Armed Forces gave

their lives to protect the sovereignty of Saudi Arabia and

other Middle Eastern countries in Operations Desert

Shield and Desert Storm;

Whereas Saudi Arabia has officially applied to join the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which

binds its members to conduct trade with each other on

the basis of nondiscrimination;

Whereas Israel has been a member of the General Agreement

on Tariffs and Trade since 1962, and Saudi Arabia has

given no indication that, if admitted to the General

Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, it would cease its boycott of Israel;

Whereas Saudi Arabia has not formally and publicly abandoned its participation in the secondary and tertiary

Arab League boycott; and

Whereas it is the responsibility of the United States to only

support applications to join the General Agreement on
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Tariffs and Trade from countries which do not undermine the objectives of the General Agreement on Tariffs

and Trade by engaging in practices which distort international trade: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring),

3 SECTION 1. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

4 It is the sense of the Congress that—

5 (1) President Clinton and Secretary of State

6 Christopher should be commended for engaging in a

7 major diplomatic initiative designed to encourage

8 members of the Arab League to end enforcement of

9 the secondary and tertiary aspects of the Arab

10 League boycott;

11 (2) the President and the Secretary of State

12 should give particular attention to diplomatic efforts

13 to encourage those countries that were direct bene14 ficiaries of Operations Desert Shield and Desert

15 Storm to end enforcement of the boycott; and

16 (3) the United States should oppose the appli17 cation of Saudi Arabia to join the General Agree18 ment on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and should ex19 ercise its veto in the GATT working group to that

20 end, until such time as Saudi Arabia formally and

21 publicly renounces its participation in the secondary

22 and tertiary Arab boycott, and publicly issues the
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1 necessary laws, rules, and regulations ensuring that

2 companies from the United States and other coun3 tries have free and open access to the Saudi Arabia

4 market regardless of their business relationship with

5 Israel.

6 SEC. 2. TRANSMITTAL OF RESOLUTION.

7 The Clerk of the House of Representatives shall

8 transmit a copy of this resolution to the President and

9 to the Secretary of State.

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