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 oppos-
ing the Arab League boycott, and United States law pro-
hibits United States firms from complying with the boy-
cott and prohibits the provision of information to Arab
countries to demonstrate compliance with the boycott;
Whereas President Clinton and Secretary of State Chris-
topher have engaged in a major antiboycott initiative de-
•HCON 138 IH
signed to end the enforcement of the secondary and ter-
tiary 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 invest-
ments 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 fis-
cal 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 Gen-
eral 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 boy-
cott of Israel;
Whereas Saudi Arabia has not formally and publicly aban-
doned 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 under-
mine the objectives of the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade by engaging in practices which distort inter-
national trade: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring),
SECTION 1. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of the Congress that—
(1) President Clinton and Secretary of State
Christopher should be commended for engaging in a
major diplomatic initiative designed to encourage
members of the Arab League to end enforcement of
the secondary and tertiary aspects of the Arab
League boycott;
(2) the President and the Secretary of State
should give particular attention to diplomatic efforts
to encourage those countries that were direct bene-
ficiaries of Operations Desert Shield and Desert
Storm to end enforcement of the boycott; and
(3) the United States should oppose the appli-
cation of Saudi Arabia to join the General Agree-
ment on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and should ex-
ercise its veto in the GATT working group to that
end, until such time as Saudi Arabia formally and
publicly renounces its participation in the secondary
and tertiary Arab boycott, and publicly issues the
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necessary laws, rules, and regulations ensuring that
companies from the United States and other coun-
tries have free and open access to the Saudi Arabia
market regardless of their business relationship with
Israel.
SEC. 2. TRANSMITTAL OF RESOLUTION.
The Clerk of the House of Representatives shall
transmit a copy of this resolution to the President and
to the Secretary of State.
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