I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4289

To provide a more effective remedy for inadequate trade benefits extended

to the United States by other countries and for restrictions on free

emigration imposed by other countries.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 28, 1996

Mr. BEREUTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Rules,

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the

committee concerned

A BILL

To provide a more effective remedy for inadequate trade

benefits extended to the United States by other countries

and for restrictions on free emigration imposed by other

countries.

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 ‘‘Fair Trade Opportuni5 ties Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE.

2 It is the purpose of this Act to enable the President

3 to—

4 (1) remedy the actions or policies of countries

5 that do not accord adequate trade benefits to the

6 United States, including substantially equal competi7 tive opportunities for the commerce of the United

8 States;

9 (2) negotiate more equitable tariff and other

10 trade benefits for the people of the United States;

11 (3) sanction non market economy countries that

12 deny or unduly restrict the right or opportunity of

13 their citizens to emigrate; and

14 (4) adjust and simplify the trade laws of the

15 United States to better respond to the realities of a

16 post-Cold War world.

17 SEC. 3. REPEAL OF JACKSON-VANIK.

18 (a) TITLE IV OF TRADE ACT OF 1974.—Title IV of

19 the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2431 and following),

20 and the items relating to title IV in the table or contents

21 of that Act, are repealed.

22 (b) HARMONIZED TARIFF SCHEDULE OF THE UNIT23 ED STATES.—

24 General Note 3 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule

25 of the United States is amended—
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1 (1) in the matter that precedes subdivision

2 (a)—

3 (A) by striking ‘‘columns’’ and inserting

4 ‘‘column’’; and

5 (B) by striking ‘‘and 2’’; and

6 (2) by striking subdivision (b).

7 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The provisions of subsection

8 (a) and the amendments made by subsection (b) apply to

9 articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for con10 sumption, on or after the 15th day after the date of the

11 enactment of this Act.

12 SEC. 4. OUTSTANDING TRADE AGREEMENTS.

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any trade agreement that—

14 (1) was entered into by the United States under

15 title IV of the Trade Act of 1974 (as such title is

16 in effect on the day before the date of the enactment

17 of this Act), and

18 (2) is in effect on the day before such date of

19 enactment,

20 shall remain in effect until such agreement expires or is

21 terminated or otherwise suspended.

22 (b) OTHER AGREEMENTS.—Nothing in this Act shall

23 be deemed to alter, amend, or otherwise affect the terms

24 of any trade agreement entered into by the United States
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1 pursuant to provisions other than such title IV of the

2 Trade Act of 1974.

3 SEC. 5. OTHER AUTHORITIES NOT AFFECTED.

4 Nothing in this Act shall affect—

5 (1) the authority of the United States Trade

6 Representative or the President to take action under

7 section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974; or

8 (2) the authorities of the President under other

9 provisions of law to increase duties on articles from

10 other countries, or to prohibit or impose other re11 strictions on imports of articles from other coun12 tries, including section 111(c) of the Uruguay

13 Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 3521(c)), section

14 5(b) of the Trading with the Enemy Act (50 U.S.C.

15 App. 5(b)), section 203 of the International Emer16 gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702), and

17 sections 504(a) and 505(a) (22 U.S.C. 2349aa-9) of

18 the International Security and Development Co19 operation Act of 1985.

20 SEC. 6. SNAP-BACK MECHANISM FOR NON-WTO MEMBERS.

21 (a) DETERMINATION WITH RESPECT TO NON-WTO

22 MEMBERS.—Within 180 days after the date of the enact23 ment of this Act, the President shall consult with the ap24 propriate congressional committees and determine wheth25 er each foreign country that is not a WTO member is not
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1 according adequate trade benefits to the United States,

2 including substantially equal competitive opportunities for

3 the commerce of the United States.

4 (b) TARIFF INCREASE.—

5 (1) IMPOSITION OF INCREASE.—If the Presi6 dent determines under subsection (a) that a foreign

7 country is not according adequate trade benefits to

8 the United States, then the President shall proclaim,

9 within 180 days after the date of that determina10 tion, an increase in the rate of duty with respect to

11 one or more products of that country to not more

12 than the column 1 rate of duty under the Har13 monized Tariff Schedule of the United States that

14 applied to the article or articles on December 31,

15 1994.

16 (2) TERMINATION OF INCREASE.—The Presi17 dent shall terminate any increase in the rate of duty

18 imposed under paragraph (1) with respect to a coun19 try on the earlier of—

20 (A) the date the country becomes a WTO

21 member; or

22 (B) the date on which the President pro23 claims that the country is according adequate

24 trade benefits to the United States, including
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1 substantially equal competitive opportunities for

2 the commerce of the United States.

3 (c) RATE OF DUTY IN ABSENCE OF COMMERCIAL

4 AGREEMENT.—In the case of a country that is not a WTO

5 member and is not a party to a commercial agreement

6 with the United States that substantially meets the re7 quirements of section 405 of the Trade Act of 1974 (as

8 in effect on the day before the date of the enactment of

9 this Act), other than the requirement that the agreement

10 be limited to a period of not more than 3 years, the column

11 2 rate of duty under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of

12 the United States shall apply to the products of that coun13 try.

14 (d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—

15 (1) the term ‘‘WTO member’’ means a state, or

16 separate customs territory (within the meaning of

17 Article XII of the WTO Agreement), with respect to

18 which the United States applies the WTO Agree19 ment; and

20 (2) the term ‘‘WTO Agreement’’ means the

21 Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organiza22 tion entered into on April 15, 1994.

23 SEC. 7. OTHER AUTHORITY TO INCREASE TARIFFS.

24 (a) AUTHORITY.—Notwithstanding any other provi25 sion of law, the President is authorized to increase the
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1 rate of duty on any product of a non market economy

2 country that is not a WTO member to not more than the

3 column 1 rate of duty under the Harmonized Tariff

4 Schedule of the United States that applied to that product

5 on December 31, 1994, if that country—

6 (1) denies its citizens the right or opportunity

7 to emigrate;

8 (2) imposes more than a nominal tax on emi9 gration or on visas or other documents required for

10 emigration, for any purpose or cause whatsoever; or

11 (3) imposes more than a nominal tax, levy, fine,

12 fee, or other charge on any citizen as a consequence

13 of the desire of such citizen to emigrate to the coun14 try of his or her choice.

15 SEC. 8. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

16 (a) TRADE ACT OF 1974.—

17 (1) Section 151 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19

18 U.S.C. 2191) is amended—

19 (A) in subsection (a)(1)—

20 (i) by striking ‘‘approval resolutions

21 described in subsection (b)(3), and resolu22 tions described in subsections 152(a) and

23 153(a)’’ and inserting ‘‘and resolutions de24 scribed in section 152(a)’’;
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1 (B) in subsection (b), by striking para2 graph (3);

3 (C) in subsection (c)—

4 (i) by striking ‘‘(c) INTRODUCTION

5 AND REFERRAL.—’’;

6 (ii) by moving the remaining text of

7 paragraph (1) 2 ems to the left;

8 (iii) by striking ‘‘(1) On the day’’

9 and inserting—

10 ‘‘(c) INTRODUCTION AND REFERRAL.—On the day’’;

11 and

12 (iv) by striking paragraph (2);

13 (D) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘or ap14 proval resolution’’; and

15 (E) in subsections (e), (f), and (g)—

16 (i) by striking ‘‘or approval resolu17 tion’’ each place it appears; and

18 (ii) by striking ‘‘or resolution’’ each

19 place it appears.

20 (2) Section 152 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19

21 U.S.C. 2192) is amended—

22 (A) by amending subsection (a) to read as

23 follows:

24 ‘‘(a) CONTENTS OF RESOLUTION.—For purposes of

25 this section, the term ‘resolution’ means only a joint reso-
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1 lution of the two Houses of the Congress, the matter after

2 the resolving clause of which is as follows: ‘That the Con3 gress does not approve the action taken by, or the deter4 mination of, the President under section 203 of the Trade

5 Act of 1974 transmitted to the Congress on llll.’,

6 with the blank space being filled with the appropriate

7 date.’’; and

8 (B) in subsection (f)—

9 (i) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘or

10 153(a), whichever is applicable,’’; and

11 (ii) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘or

12 section 153(a)’’.

13 (3) Section 153 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19

14 U.S.C. 2193), and the item relating to that section

15 in the table of contents for that Act, are repealed.

16 (4) Section 154 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19

17 U.S.C. 2194) is amended—

18 (A) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘203(b),

19 402(d), or 407(a) or (b)’’ and inserting ‘‘or

20 203(b)’’; and

21 (B) by striking ‘‘sections 203(c),

22 407(c)(2), and 407(c)(3)’’ and inserting ‘‘sec23 tion 203(c)’’.

24 (b) OTHER PROVISIONS OF LAW.—
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1 (1) Section 330(d) of the Tariff Act of 1930

2 (19 U.S.C. 1330(d)) is amended—

3 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘to de4 termine—

5 ‘‘(A) under’’

6 and all that follows through ‘‘and the commis7 sioners’’ and inserting ‘‘to determine, under

8 section 202 of the Trade Act of 1974, whether

9 increased imports of an article are a substantial

10 cause of serious injury, or the threat thereof, as

11 described in subsection (b)(1) of that section

12 (hereafter in this subsection referred to as ‘seri13 ous injury’), and the commissioners’’;

14 (B) in paragraph (2)—

15 (i) by striking ‘‘or 406’’;

16 (ii) by striking ‘‘or market disruption

17 exists, respectively’’; and

18 (iii) by striking ‘‘or the finding under

19 section 406(a)(3) of such Act, as the case

20 may be’’.

21 (2) Section 1102(b)(1) of the Trade Agree22 ments Act of 1979 (19 U.S.C. 2581(b)(1)) is

23 amended by striking ‘‘301, or 406’’ and ‘‘2411, or

24 2436’’ and inserting ‘‘or 301’’ and ‘‘or 2411’’, re25 spectively.
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1 (3) Section 2(c)(11) of the Support for East

2 European Democracy (SEED) Act of 1989 (22

3 U.S.C. 5401(c)(11)) is amended to read as follows:

4 ‘‘(11) MOST-FAVORED-NATION TRADE STA5 TUS.—The granting of nondiscriminatory treatment

6 (most-favored-nation treatment) to the products of

7 an East European country.’’.

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