This is made all the more urgent by the recent court ruling in Florida that calls into question the validity of our authority to protect confidential business information from public disclosure because the EAA has expired. As Stu Eizenstat will undoubtedly discuss further when he speaks at lunch today, Congress has also failed to act on comprehensive sanctions reform legislation. That in turn has encouraged inconsistent legislation on sanctions. Congress, for example, is currently considering legislation to eliminate licensing requirements for sales of agricultural and medical products to terrorist supporting governments like Libya, Iran, Iraq, and Sudan. At the same time it is also considering legislation to impose strict new sanctions specifically on China.
Export controls are here to stay for the foreseeable future in world trade.
But as we approach the end of this Administration I am concerned that rather than continuing to become more targeted, as I believe they should, they may once again become expansive and intrusive. There are those who would like to do just that in the name of such laudable goals as arms control, human rights, and even environmental protection. Where we draw the line between our growing capacity to control trade, on the one hand, and the freedom of companies and countries to compete and cooperate through trade, on the other, is a critical part of the national security equation. Excessive controls could not only undermine our freedoms, but could undermine the very peace we are trying to secure by increasing international tensions rather than resolving them. We in this Administration have tried to strike the right balance, and the next Administration, with your help, must continue that effort.