Congress Takes First Steps Toward Implementating GATT Trade Pact

Abstract

International negotiations on the Uruguay round of the General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade (GATT) ended last December, but Congress is still struggling with legislation it must enact to make the trade pact legal in the U.S. This implementing legislation, which will be formally submitted by President Bill Clinton once Congress has taken a first pass at it, is vital to the final success of the treaty. As a first step toward passing the implementing legislation, the House Ways & Means Committee's Subcommittee on Trade has had an informal markup of a bill that covers many of the required legal changes. Late last month, acting subcommittee chairman Robert T. Matsui (D.-Calif.) proposed a set of amendments to the Administration's rough proposals that cover issues ranging from intellectual property to Brazilian nonrubber footwear. The approval of a bill by the trade subcommittee is just the first of a number of exchanges between Congress and the White ...