PRESIDENT BUSH ON THE URUGUAY ROUND
NEGOTIATIONS OF THE GATT
"The Uruguay Round offers a vital opportunity to eliminate
barriers to our goods, investment, services, and ideas."
President George Bush
May 1, 1991
Summary
o Under President Bush's leadership, the United States is
spearheading efforts to complete the Uruguay Round of
multilateral trade negotiations, the most ambitious round in
the history of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT). The 108 nation members of GATT represent over 90
percent of world trade. The objective of the Uruguay Round
negotiations is to strengthen and expand the global trading
system by reducing trade barriers.
o The Bush Administration's goals in the Round include sharply
reducing trade barriers worldwide; extending GATT rules to
services, investment, and intellectual property; and curbing
trade subsidies that undercut American farm and industrial
exports, while not reducing the effectiveness of U.S. laws
against unfair trade.
o President Bush is committed to obtaining a GATT agreement
that will benefit American workers, farmers, and consumers;
he will not accept an inadequate agreement just for the sake
of an agreement.
A Sound GATT Agreement Would Benefit the U.S. Economy
o An open multilateral trading system is the best guarantee
that U.S. export opportunities will continue to expand into
the next century. The Uruguay Round is the most important
initiative to expand these opportunities. A successful
Uruguay Round would provide substantial benefits to the U.S.
economy, including:
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GATT -- page 2
-- Lower tariff and non-tariff barriers to manufactured
products and other goods, which would substantially
boost U.S. exports and could increase U.S. output by
over $1 trillion over the next ten years;
-- Rules to protect the intellectual property of U.S.
entrepreneurs to reduce the $60 billion lost each year
through theft and counterfeiting;
-- New markets for U.S. services firms, which export over
$140 billion annually and generate 90 percent of new
U.S. jobs;
-- Fair competition and open markets in agriculture to
create new opportunities for American farmers, who lead
the world with more than $40 billion in annual exports;
-- Full participation of developing countries in the
global trading system, which could increase U.S.
exports by $200 billion between now and the year 2000;
and
-- Effective rules on dispute settlement, anti-dumping,
subsidies, and import safeguards, to expand U.S. access
to foreign markets and ensure fair trade in the U.S.
market.
Agriculture
o One of President Bush's key objectives is to obtain a GATT
agreement that contains major agricultural policy reforms,
including commitments by GATT member nations to reduce trade-
distorting internal support to farmers, open markets to
imports, and cut export subsidies.
o Agricultural reforms in the Uruguay Round would mark an
historic departure from the costly protectionist measures
that have flourished in that sector, largely outside GATT
disciplines. These reforms would have significant benefits
for farmers, taxpayers, and consumers in the United States
and the rest of the world.
o These reforms have been opposed by the European Community,
which refuses to reduce subsidies that give EC farmers an
unfair advantage in the world market. President Bush,
supported by other GATT members, has demanded that any final
GATT agreement include a commitment by all parties including
the EC to drastically reduce these subsidies and to require
their farmers to compete in the world market.
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GATT -- page 3
Services
o President Bush has insisted that global trade rules for
services be established to expand access to global markets
for U.S. services providers. President Bush is confident
that U.S. services, such as banking, insurance,
telecommunications, motion pictures, tourism, and
construction, can out-compete their foreign counterparts if
only they are allowed to compete on a level playing field.
-- The United States already leads the world with $140
billion in services exports annually.
Intellectual PropertyIntellectual Property Rules
o Patented, copyrighted, and trademarked products are a
growing source of foreign earnings to the U.S. economy.
President Bush has pressed for a GATT agreement that will
afford the highest level of protection to copyrights,
patents, and other forms of intellectual property held by
U.S. firms. The President also has insisted that the
agreement must include strong sanctions for those countries
that condone the piracy, infringement or violation of these
rights.
o The President's efforts to protect American know-how have
already paid off. For example, in the most recent draft of
the proposed agreement, computer software would be protected
as literary work, the highest form of copyright protection
allowed.
Textile and Apparel
Textile and Apparel
o The current draft GATT agreement calls for removal of the
quota system established by the 1974 Multi-Fiber Arrangement
(MFA). One of President Bush's main objectives in the GATT
negotiations has been to ensure that any such quota removal
be conducted on a smooth and gradual basis in order to
minimize the disruption to the U.S. textile and apparel
industry.
o The President's call for a sensible, responsible phaseout of
the quotas has prevailed. The proposed draft agreement
calls for a gradual phaseout of the MFA, which will allow
the U.S. textile industry time to adjust to import
competition and avoid severe disruption, appropriate
safeguard procedures, improved procedures to deal with
circumvention of quotas and important market-opening
measures for U.S. textile and apparel exporters.
