59 



I think we're all looking to see expanded markets, and we cer- 

 tainly want to open them. That is important, but it is also impor- 

 tant for us to see that it is done in a fair manner. 



My understanding of the agreement as it stands is that it opens 

 our markets to their commodities twice as fast as it opens their 

 markets to our commodities. Certainly understanding that their 

 productivity levels in my commodities, specifically rice and cotton, 

 are limited because of their water resources, technology, and what 

 have you, but it is going to be very important for us to see the sup- 

 plemental agreement that you talk about. 



I do understand my colleague, Mr. Hilliard, in his question con- 

 cerning at which point we move from a supplemental agreement to 

 reopening NAFTA. It is difficult because there are quite a lot of dif- 

 ficulties for us here to swallow. If we do see a supplemental as 

 strong as we want to, there is the question of, at which point we 

 are moving from a supplemental to reopening NAFTA? 



One commodity that is very important to my area is cotton. 



I am very interested to know if the administration would con- 

 sider on a snap-back for cotton as a means of preventing import 

 surges from driving up the cotton pricing stabilization programs. I 

 think that is going to be important for my area. I would certainly 

 like to hear what you might have to add on that. 



Ambassador K^TOR. First of all, it is always a delight to hear 

 somebody from my adopted State. Your two Senators have niade 

 me an honorary citizen of Arkansas since my family and I lived 

 there for 6 or 7 months in the past year. We lived on Beechwood 

 Drive in Little Rock, which we miss. It is a wonderful place to live. 



We are concerned about that, as I indicated before. Rice, of 

 course, goes beyond just disagreement. When we go into 

 tariffication discussions and market access discussions in the Uru- 

 guay Round, obviously the Japanese are going to have some con- 

 cerns. If we tariff nontariff barriers and other concerns in agricul- 

 tural products, the Japanese then have to come forward in terms 

 of whether they're going to open their rice market. I know that is 

 something about wMch I have discussed with your Senators. 



I would be glad to have that discussion with you in terms of cot- 

 ton. We know the potential is not there now, but it could be later 

 in Mexico and needs to be something we look at very carefully. I 

 would be happy to work with you on that. 



Ms. Lambert. Thank you. I would appreciate that. And I do 

 think the long-term effects are going to be very important to all of 

 us. 



Thank you again for coming and for your hard work. 



Mr. English. Mr. Barlow. 



Mr. Barlow. I know you have heard many of these comments be- 

 fore, but I just want to reiterate them quickly. Even though they 

 are quick, they are very serious concerns for western and southern 

 Kentucky. 



Rural economies are struggling. Industry in our rural economies 

 are struggling. We have autoparts; we have textiles; we have cloth- 

 ing manufacturers in western Kentucky. But it is a very competi- 

 tive world. We are very worried about losing jobs going south. 



I would like particularly to dicuss with you, and I raise this not 

 just in regard to this treaty but in regard to other treaties going 



