Statanant by Rap. Kika da la Oarsa, D-TZ 

 Chairman, Housa Agrloultura Committaa 



Haaring on Propoaad Supplamantal Agraamanta to NAFTA 



and Updata on Uruguay Round of OATT Negotiations 



Wadnasday, March 17, 1993 



Today's hearing focuses on the Administration's effort to negotiate 

 supplemental agreements to the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement 

 on environment, worker rights, and import surge safeguards. Those 

 negotiations begin today, and we are pleased that the U.S. Trade 

 Representative is able to be with us to discuss the Administration's 

 priorities and objectives in this process. 



As Ambassador Kantor and all of us realize, a lot is riding on the 

 outcome of these negotiations. For many in this Congress, support for the 

 yet-to-be-drafted implementing legislation to the main text for NAFTA is 

 dependent on what is included in these supplemental agreements. The 

 President himself has made clear that his own support for NAFTA hinges on 

 these supplemental agreements. 



The negotiations that begin today offers more than just a chance to 

 strengthen the political support for NAFTA. The supplemental agreements 

 give us the opportunity to link the benefits of free trade with other 

 societal objectives — better protection of the environment, funding for 

 basic border infrastructure needs, enhanced worker rights, and improved 

 safeguards for import-sensitive industries in all three countries. I think 

 these are worthy objectives. 



This Committee has an interest in all three areas of negotiation, with 

 the environment and import surge agreements of particular importance to 

 certain segments of American agriculture. You can expect to hear a lot 

 from us collectively and individually about the concerns of our 

 constituents who feel that NAFTA will have a negative effect on their 

 industries. We want to ensure that you are sensitive to their concerns — 

 and ours — and that perhaps you can try to address their concerns in the 

 negotiations for the supplemental agreements. 



Because of the South Texas district I represent, I am personally very 

 interested in the supplemental agreement for the environment. It is my 

 hope that the environmental agreement can serve to improve the quality of 

 life for the millions of people who live along our 2,000-mile land border 

 with Mexico and to promote better stewardship and protection of the 

 region's natural environment — its air, soil and water resources. I would 

 also hope the environmental agreement would seek to better protect the 

 quality of our other "border" with Mexico, that is the Gulf of Mexico. 



In addition, we have asked Ambassador Kantor to give us a sense of 

 what the Administration's intentions are with respect to reviving the 

 Uruguay Round of negotiations under GATT. 



This Committee has followed the ups and downs of the Uruguay Round for 

 more than six years now and many of us have become quite frustrated and 

 disillusioned by the lack of progress. It is my hope that you. Ambassador 

 Kantor, and this Administration can somehow bring about a successful 

 conclusion to the Uruguay Round that will open export markets for the 

 entire U.S. economy and our agricultural sector in particular. 



I welcome Ambassador Kantor to his first public hearing before the 

 Committee and look forward to working with you in the coming months on 

 these and other trade issues important to American agriculture. 



