II

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1444

To establish a common market to bind together the countries of North

America, Central America, and South America in a common commitment

to promote democracy and mutually beneficial economic development.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 9 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 7), 1993

Mr. HOLLINGS introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To establish a common market to bind together the countries

of North America, Central America, and South America

in a common commitment to promote democracy and

mutually beneficial economic development.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Common

5 Market Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. NEGOTIATIONS TO ESTABLISH COMMON MARKET.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President is authorized and

8 strongly encouraged to negotiate, with the other countries
2

S 1444 IS

1 of North America, Central America, and South America,

2 a treaty to establish a Common Market of the Americas,

3 containing the following:

4 (1) TERMS OF ACCESSION.—A requirement that

5 the only countries that may be parties to the treaty

6 are North American, Central American, and South

7 American countries that in law and practice have a

8 clear commitment to democracy, human rights, and

9 freedom of press.

10 (2) SOCIAL CHARTER.—A provision setting

11 forth a social charter prescribing minimum stand12 ards for each Common Market country with respect

13 to environmental protection and health, safety, and

14 working conditions, including a common minimum

15 wage and the private right to form independent

16 labor unions.

17 (3) DEVELOPMENT FUND.—A provision creat18 ing a development fund for infrastructure projects in

19 less developed Common Market countries and pro20 viding for debt relief for such less developed coun21 tries.

22 (4) COMMON EXTERNAL TARIFF.—A provision

23 establishing a common external tariff applicable to

24 imports into the Common Market area.
3

S 1444 IS

1 (5) ECONOMIC COOPERATION.—A requirement

2 for a biannual meeting of the finance ministers of

3 the Common Market countries in order to coordinate

4 their respective economic policies, including macro5 economic policy and cooperation on currency valu6 ation to prevent Common Market countries from en7 gaging in competitive devaluations.

8 (6) HARMONIZED COMPETITION POLICY.—A re9 quirement that the Common Market countries estab10 lish a harmonized competition policy in order to

11 properly regulate the competition among persons en12 gaged in commerce in the Common Market area.

13 (7) EXPORT BALANCING REQUIREMENTS.—A

14 requirement that a specified percentage of goods

15 from the less developed Common Market countries

16 be exported to non-Common Market countries.

17 (8) QUOTAS UNDER THE MULTI FIBER AR18 RANGEMENT.—A requirement that the United States

19 quotas on imports of textiles and textile products

20 from China under the Multi Fiber Arrangement be

21 extended to other Common Market countries.

22 (9) TARIFF HARMONIZATION.—A requirement

23 that after an independent international commission,

24 established by the treaty or agreed upon by all Com25 mon Market countries, certifies that—
4

S 1444 IS

1 (A) a functional democratic political sys2 tem is in place in each Common Market coun3 try;

4 (B) per capita gross domestic product for

5 each such country reaches a level of economic

6 development that permits its full participation

7 in the Common Market without jeopardizing

8 the economic well-being of the other Common

9 Market countries; and

10 (C) each Common Market country is in full

11 compliance with the social charter described in

12 paragraph (2),

13 then the Common Market countries shall initiate ne14 gotiations to eliminate their respective national tar15 iffs and non-tariff barriers.

16 (b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term—

17 (1) ‘‘Common Market country’’ means a coun18 try that is a party to the treaty described in sub19 section (a); and

20 (2) ‘‘Multi Fiber Arrangement’’ means the Ar21 rangement Regarding International Trade in Tex22 tiles of December 20, 1973, as extended.

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