SENSE OF CONGRESS CONCERNING REBALANCING PROPOSAL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY.

SEC. 1559. SENSE OF CONGRESS CONCERNING REBALANCING PROPOSAL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY. (a) Findings.— Congress finds that— (1) the success of the agriculture negotiations under the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is important to the liberalization of world agricultural trade and the development of the markets for United States commodities; (2) in order to correct distortions and restrictions in world agricultural markets, the participants in GATT negotiations have committed to substantial and progressive reductions in agricultural protection and support; (3) the history of establishing more market-oriented trade since World War II has been progressive liberalization through a series of multilateral trade negotiations; (4) the European Community’s proposal to “rebalance” import protections could actually permit the European Community to increase import barriers for some products, including products which have enjoyed barrier free trade status as a result of earlier trade negotiations; (5) this rebalancing proposal could pose a particularly severe threat to United States exports of com gluten feed and oilseeds to the European Community, products whose duty-free status the European Community has long sought to undercut; and (6) the European Community market for United States exports of com gluten feed and oilseeds has been a successful fixture of United States-European Community trade relations for approximately 30 years, and should not be restricted. (b) Sense of Congress.— It is the sense of Congress that— (1) the European Community’s proposed rebalancing of import protections is fundamentally at odds with the important goals of liberalizing world agricultural trade and eliminating trade-distorting policies; (2) such rebalancing could have a particularly severe impact on United States exports of com gluten feed and oilseeds to the European Community, leaving them vulnerable to unfair treatment and increased trade barriers; and (3) the United States, throughout the remainder of the Uruguay Round of the GATT negotiations on agriculture, should forcefully reject the European Community’s proposal to rebalance import protections.