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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) was joined by eight other senators today in urging President Bush not to agree to any changes in the U.S. trade laws at the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) upcoming trade negotiations. The Senators request is in response to last month’s WTO ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar where United States Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Zoellick agreed to put the United States’ antidumping and countervailing duty laws on the negotiating table.

Rockefeller, during Wednesday’s Senate Finance Committee meeting on trade promotion authority, requested that USTR Zoellick give assurances that he will refuse to negotiate changes which would weaken U.S. trade laws.

"The more we learn about the WTO commitments the USTR made in Doha, the more concerned we need to be for U.S. anti-dumping laws and, even more so, U.S. industries that have sought protection under those laws," said Rockefeller. "I asked USTR Zoellick for an explicit commitment that he would not trade off U.S. anti-dumping laws in the WTO negotiations, and that if other countries insisted on unacceptable changes to U.S. anti-dumping laws he would be prepared to walk out of the WTO talks. Ambassador Zoellick refused to make those commitments to me, which I find very disturbing."

In the letter sent to the President today, Rockefeller told the President that if he allowed our trade laws to be weakened, his efforts to help the steel industry through a 201 investigation would be negated. He also said that only the President’s unequivocal commitment not to agree to make any changes to those laws will allay their concerns.

The Senators asserted that the current U.S. trade laws are focused, fair and transparent laws designed to prevent U.S. industries from being undermined by export subsidies and other internationally prohibited practices, injurious dumping, and injurious production subsidies. They also stated that the WTO specifically allows for trade laws like these, and most members of its have similar laws in place.

After learning of the Administration’s agreement to put U.S. trade laws on the negotiating table, Senator Rockefeller requested that the Senate Finance Committee hold a hearing to examine the outcome of the Bush Administration’s negotiations. The Senator cited his concern that Zoellick made concessions at the WTO meeting that will compromise U.S. anti-dumping and other trade laws that protect American workers from unfair competition.

Rockefeller also noted that earlier this year 62 senators sent a letter to the President saying that they would object strongly to any moves to weaken our trade laws at the WTO.

The full text of Senator Rockefeller’s letter to the President is attached.

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December 14, 2001

The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

We are deeply disturbed to learn that during the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar, the United States Trade Representative agreed to put U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty laws on the table at the upcoming round of WTO trade negotiations. Only your unequivocal commitment not to agree to make any changes to those laws will allay our concerns.

The USTR's action in Doha could well be the action that makes it impossible to maintain a healthy U.S. steel industry. It directly contradicts your good efforts to date to take steps to help the industry recover from the steel import crisis, and is likely to limit the effectiveness of any remedy granted the industry as a result of the International Trade Commission’s pending investigation under Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974.

We should not be discussing U.S. trade laws at the WTO. These are focused, fair, and transparent laws designed to prevent U.S. industries from being undermined by (1) export subsidies and other internationally prohibited practices, (2) injurious dumping, and (3) injurious production subsidies. The WTO specifically allows for trade laws like these, and most members of the WTO have similar laws in place.

The record shows that the American steel industry relies on the enforcement of these laws to combat predatory price undercutting in the U.S. market by foreign exporters, as well as massive foreign subsidization of steel production and/or exportation. As we await the results of the Section 201 investigation, the laws against unfair trade practices have been key to preventing the end of the industry.

Other domestic industries rely on the fair and equal protection afforded by our trade laws. Over the past decade alone, antidumping laws have been an important trade policy tool for our electronics industry (semiconductors, supercomputers, and scanners) as well as our machinery, chemicals, forest products, cement, bearings, agricultural products, and processed food industries. There are few sectors of the U.S. economy that have not at one point or another sought the protection of our trade laws to respond to unfair foreign competition.

You may recall that 62 members of the United States Senate recently wrote to you urging the Administration to guard against any weakening of our trade laws. These Senators understood that we can no longer use such laws as bargaining chips in international trade negotiations – the survival of too many key domestic industries depends upon preservation of the framework of fair trade.

We look forward to your reassurance that this Administration will not agree to any changes to the U.S. laws that regulate unfair foreign trade practices.

Sincerely,