22 



is the target within a 20 or 30 percent range of error, I have prob- 

 lems, don't I? 



Mr. Goldthwait. I was going to give you a range. I was simply 

 going to introduce it by noting, as you have referred to, that it is 

 a range, not a particular point on the continuum of 1 to 10. 



I would say that today's market is somewhat more free than re- 

 stricted. I would say we are at sort of six or seven today. And I 

 would say that the accomplishments we have reached are in MTN 

 and our NAFTA is going to take us at least one digit higher, maybe 

 two, somewhere in the area of seven or eight. 



Again, there are going to remain some very serious obstacles to 

 world trade. We are going to have to continue to address them. One 

 of the uncertainties is going to be the smoothness of implementing 

 the requirements of GATT and NAFTA, because we know that 

 there are going to be some very difficult implementation issues, is- 

 sues of interpretation of the agreements we have reached. 



But I think that those agreements take us a step or more than 

 a step in the correct direction. And I think that over the implemen- 

 tation period, we will begin to see some of the benefits in concrete 

 ways in export commerce. 



Mr. Stenholm. Mr. Mendelowitz. 



Mr. Mendelowitz. My personal guess is we are probably at a 

 four or five now and maybe with the GATT agreement we are at 

 a five or six. With that said, I have to say that while there are still 

 a lot of barriers out there, an equal problem from the U.S. perspec- 

 tive is that the U.S. business community hasn't taken anywhere 

 near full advantage of the level of openness that is there. 



Mr. Stenholm. I totally agree with that and for the record, my 

 own estimate is four to five. I think we will be at five to six. That 

 is where I personally would put it. That is the challenge we have 

 in policymaking, when we start saying let's identify the markets, 

 let's identify who the buyers are and let's put together a strategy 

 and a policy. If we don't try for the markets we are not going to 

 have them. 



But if we do try and do not have the proper tools, we are not 

 going to make it. 



So it is going to be very critical for us to identify what our com- 

 petition is doing. We have one idea that is circulating in another 

 committee right now that is, I think, a giant step in the right direc- 

 tion, and that is self-help dairy program, in which we are trying 

 to discuss how producers of milk can compete in that market sys- 

 tem. And then identify the middlemen that will, in fact, make them 

 rich to go for the market. But we have had a great reluctance 

 around here to compete in those markets, and for very good rea- 

 sons. 



So often we get there and find our Government is not standing 

 shoulder to shoulder with us when we get there and it is very frus- 

 trating. That is the challenge we have in the policy, to eliminate 

 that frustration. 



The idea that the chairman put forward about subsidizing do- 

 mestic and not subsidizing export is not an original idea. I get the 

 credit for the flex acres and the triple base and implementing it in 

 the 1990 farm bill, but the idea came up a lot before I thought of 

 it. It makes good sense. 



