I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5381
To provide for a more restrictive tariff-rate quota on imports of tobacco.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 4, 2000
Mr. FLETCHER (for himself, Mr. EWING, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. WHITFIELD, Mr.
LEWIS of Kentucky, and Mr. MCINTYRE) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To provide for a more restrictive tariff-rate quota on imports
of tobacco.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tobacco Farmers
Trade Fairness Act’’.
SEC. 2. TARIFF-RATE QUOTA ON TOBACCO.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
(1) On September 12, 1995, the tariff-rate
quota on imports of tobacco was implemented by a
Presidential proclamation to limit the volume of
such imports.
(2) The tariff-rate quota permits imports for
consumption of up to 331,700,000 pounds declared
weight of flue-cured, burley, and other light air-
cured tobaccos at levels of duty agreed to in the
World Trade Organization.
(3) Under the national marketing quotas pro-
claimed by the Secretary of Agriculture under part
I of subtitle B of title III of the Agricultural Adjust-
ment Act of 1938 (7 U.S.C. 1311 et seq.), the
amount of burley tobacco that the United States
farmers are permitted to grow has been cut by 65
percent over the past 3 years, and the quota amount
for flue-curred farmers was reduced by 28 percent in
1999.
(4) Buying intentions of United States burley
tobacco purchasers have dropped from 473,400,000
pounds in 1997 to 291,000,000 pounds in 1999, and
buying intentions of United States flue-cured to-
bacco purchasers have dropped from 535,000,000
pounds to 327,000,000 pounds over the same period
of time.
(5) By comparison, imports of burley tobacco
have dropped only 20,000,000 pounds between 1997
and 1998. Over the first three quarters of the 1999
marketing year, imports exceeded 1998 imports by
5,000,000 pounds.
(6) Therefore, companies in the United States
are using an increased percentage of foreign tobacco.
The import share of burley tobacco used increased
from 27 percent when the tariff-rate quotas were
implemented to 37 percent in 1999. The import
share of foreign flue-cured tobacco also increased
over the same period of time from 23 percent to 32
percent.
(7) Yet, even though the import share of to-
bacco has increased, only 48 percent of the tariff-
rate quota was used in 1998.
(8) The tariff-rate quota on tobacco has not
been effective in limiting the amount of foreign to-
bacco imported into the United States and must be
renegotiated in order to achieve the purpose for
which it was originally established.
(b) RENEGOTIATION OF TARIFF-RATE QUOTA.—The
President shall, in the first negotiations held after the en-
actment of this Act under the auspices of the World Trade
Organization, take the necessary steps to renegotiate the
tariff-rate quota on imported tobacco so that—
(1) the quantity of tobacco receiving pref-
erential tariff treatment is 50 percent of the quan-
tity receiving preferential tariff treatment under the
tariff-rate quota in effect on the date of the enact-
ment of this Act; and
(2) thereafter, the quantity of tobacco receiving
preferential tariff treatment under the tariff-rate
quota is reduced in each calendar year by the same
percentage as any reduction in the national mar-
keting quota referred to in subsection (a)(3) in the
preceding calendar year.
Æ