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The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2001, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, despite the overwhelming passage of a sense of Congress resolution urging the President to keep U.S. anti-dumping laws off of Qatar's negotiating table, the U.S. Trade Representative, Bob Zoellick, did just the opposite after a 410 to 4 vote.
U.S. officials have signaled that they are willing to negotiate on trade dumping laws that provide safeguards against countries selling products in the U.S. marketplace at below cost. The American steel industry, like so many others, relies on anti-dumping laws as their last line of defense against unfairly traded imports.
Unfortunately, since the WTO Uruguay Round, the steel industry's ability to defend itself against dumping has been severely weakened. Now, in Qatar, a couple of weeks ago, the U.S. Trade Representative has remained open to further weakening the rules on trade dumping, further jeopardizing American steel, further threatening American jobs.
Many of us were concerned about Qatar long before the negotiations began. It is a country that does not allow free elections. It is a country that does not allow freedom of expression. It is a country where women are treated not much differently from the way women are treated by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
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It is a country where public worship by non-Muslims is banned. The message that sends to people around the world that the trade ministers of all of the nations in the world are meeting in a city, in a country, where public protest will not be allowed, where free speech is not allowed, where public expression is not allowed, where freedom of worship is not allowed, and where free elections are not allowed, the message that sends is troubling. It is troubling because all too often our own trade minister, Robert Zoellick, has used in the past language to suggest that those of us who do not support his free trade agenda, his agenda to weaken environmental standards, to weaken labor standards around the world, those of us who do not support this free trade agenda, he implies, are indifferent to terrorism. He has questioned our patriotism saying, we do not really share American values if we do not support Fast Track, if we do not support his trade legislation because, he tells us, that is the way to combat terrorism around the world: You are either with us or you are against us. Many of us resent the U.S. Trade Representative questioning our patriotism, claiming we are indifferent to terrorism because we believe his Fast Track proposal is not coincident with American values and does not do the right things for our country.
Supporters of Fast Track argue that the U.S. is being left behind. They tell us we need Fast Track to increase American exports and provide new jobs for American workers. But this country's history of flawed trade agreements has led to a trade deficit with the rest of the world that surges well above $350 billion. The 2000 trade deficit is 40 percent higher than the previous record set in 1999. The Department of Labor has reported that NAFTA, and these are very conservative government figures, that NAFTA has caused the loss of 300,000 jobs.
The American steel industry is no stranger to trade-induced adversity. Thousands of steel workers have lost their jobs. Mr. Speaker, 25 companies have filed for bankruptcy, 16 in the last year. We import 39 million tons of steel, double the 16 million tons we imported only 10 years ago, and steel prices, because of that, are below 1998 levels. In my home district, steel workers from LTV are learning firsthand that our trade policies put American workers in jeopardy. LTV terminated negotiations with its major union and went to bankruptcy court seeking permission to shut down its steel-making operations in anticipation of its sale. Now 11,000 jobs and the pensions and health benefits of more than 65,000 retirees and surviving spouses hang in the balance. LTV and the rest of the steel industry need Congress' assistance in solving this problem. Fast Track is not the answer. While our trade agreements go to great lengths to protect investors and protect property rights, these agreements do not
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CEOs of multinational corporations tell us that globalization stimulates development and allows nations to improve their environmental and labor record. The truth is, flawed trade agreements cost American jobs, put downward pressure on U.S. wages and working conditions, and erode the ability of government to protect public health and to protect the environment. If we fail to include these important provisions and trade agreements, multinational corporations will continue to dismiss labor and environmental protection as discretionary and wholly unnecessary. Global working conditions, global living conditions will continued to suffer.
We need to press for U.S. trade policy with provisions that protect American workers. We need to press for a U.S. trade policy with provisions that protect the American environment. We have experienced an economic slowdown, a drop in the stock market. Fast Track will not solve that problem, it will only make it worse.
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