Secretary FREEMAN. That is correct. Senator MUSKIE. Mr. Secretary, you have made reference to the rapidity with which our exports have grown. Have those exports displaced European products over that period to any extent at all? Secretary FREEMAN. No; they have stimulated European production. Senator MUSKIE. So that this has been a positive contribution almost completely to the European economy? Secretary FREEMAN. That is the irony of it, that actually we have created a market for poultry in the European economy which didn't exist before, and in a sense we created the market and pointed the way, and we have been rather rudely shouldered aside, and we don't like it even a little bit. Senator MUSKIE. So this is really a classic example of the benefit that trade can be not only to the exporting country but the importing country? Secretary FREEMAN. That is correct. Senator MUSKIE. And if the example does not stand up it will undermine the whole concept of the liberal trade policy on which we are embarked; am I not right? Secretary FREEMAN. It would certainly be a strong argument about it. Senator BYRD. Any questions? Representative ABBITT. I would like to ask the Secretary this question: Do you have certain recommendations in mind such that, if they were followed through by the State Department or the administration, this situation could be corrected in a reasonable time? Secretary FREEMAN. Yes. Representative ABBITT. So then you do feel that the situation can be corrected if the administration and the proper officials take vigorous and proper action within a reasonable time? Secretary FREEMAN. It is always difficult, Congressman, to know whether you will be able to settle the lawsuits on mutually favorable terms. Representative ABBITT. If you have got a shotgun you can pretty well take it? Secretary FREEMAN. I am not sure who has got the shotgun. Representative ABBITT. I gather from some of the questions asked here that we might have a pretty effective weapon. Secretary FREEMAN. I think we ought to face the fact, and it would be realistic as to how we are going to properly protect our rights that we have under a favorable balance of trade, and we sell a good deal more than we buy, and this does not make for as strong a bargaining position as does the converse. Representative ABBITT. The general feeling in my area and I can't speak for anybody else in my section-is that some of the officials in the State Department are more concerned with the economics of certain foreign countries than they are at home. Have you found that to be true? Secretary FREEMAN. No, sir. Representative ABBITT. I certainly feel a little better about it. Senator BYRD. Mr. Secretary, you say you have not got a shotgun. Have you got a pistol? Secretary FREEMAN. Yes, sir, I have. And I hope it has got a good wallop, and we can hit the target with it. And we are trying to use, if I might coin a phrase, stainless steel instead of buckshot. Senator ROBERTSON. Mr. Chairman, I would just like to make this observation. European nations on the Continent have never recognized the Monroe Doctrine as international law. But with the help of Great Britain we have made it stand up. The President told Russia she would have to take the missiles out of Cuba because she was violating the Monroe Doctrine, and she took them out. Now, you tell us, they are violating a legal right that we have, and we have got a simpler remedy than the invasion of Cuba. It certainly seems to me that if by the middle or later in February they do not voluntarily, I don't think you will have to use a pistol or shotgun, just tell them what we intend to do, like the President told them in Cuba, and I believe that our poultry producers will not be put out of business. Senator BYRD. Any other questions? Senator Magnuson? Senator MAGNUSON. Mr. Gossett, I hope I am not right, but I think this is going to be a forerunner of all kinds of problems of different commodities. They may be in a special category such as this, but there are going to be a great number. What machinery has been set up in your shop, if any, for an industry to present their case to you, Mr. Herter, and those who will be our negotiators on many of these problems and I think there are going to be several. Are they going to have to come here and go through Congress, or is there some place where we can go, those of us who represent them and the industry, and lay the case down and get some kind of direct answer as to what can be done, and what you plan to do and what will be done? Mr. GOSSETT. Senator Magnuson, such machinery has yet not been set up, but it certainly will be. We certainly propose to be fully informed and avail ourselves of all the advice available to us from industry. We propose to have industry advisers and economists, and we propose to have some of them available even during the negotiations. Senator MAGNUSON. I am thinking in terms of people that want to present their case to the people that can do something for them directly, not indirectly. Now, you know that in GATT what happens is that-I hope that we don't fall into this error-in GATT the State Department will announce on some given day the commodities that are going to be negotiated, pick them out. And then on another given day, after a reasonable time, if I feel that I have a deep interest, or my constituents, or an industry, in the announced commodities, they will be given about 10 minutes to come down and state their case at the end. Now, I hope that the machinery that is going to be set up will be not only more effective than that, but give people in these special cases a real chance to feel that they have got somebody they can tell about it, they have got somebody they can give the facts to, and they have got somebody that can directly do something about it. And then Congress, this committee or any other committee, can back up what you do. This is a sort of an around-about way we are going this morning. Mr. GOSSETT. We agree with you. Senator BYRD. Senator Stennis? Senator STENNIS. Mr. Gossett, you referred to the Council of the European Common Market that has this matter before it now and will report around the 15th. Were you represented before them? Has this case been presented to them? Mr. GOSSETT. Not directly, sir. We talked with the Commissioners. Senator STENNIS. Has the Secretary of Agriculture presented the case? Secretary FREEMAN. Yes, Senator, I think the case has been strongly presented to every one of the agricultural ministers, to every one of the foreign ministers, to the heads of state in the respective countries, not once but many times. Senator STENNIS. And it has been presented in this committee or this group? Secretary FREEMAN. No, this committee does not entertain appearances before it. In this respect I suppose it would be like the U.S. Senate itself, because they do not invite witnesses on to the floor. But in each country there has been the strongest possible representation by our Government. Senator STENNIS. So you feel that the Department of Agriculture has, then, been fully represented, your ideas and your thoughts and your position before that group, whether formally or not? Secretary FREEMAN. I wouldn't pass judgment on whether the Secretary of Agriculture is or isn't articulate, but I have talked to practically everyone of them myself. Senator STENNIS. You have had the opportunity, is that it? Secretary FREEMAN. Yes. And I might say that there have been very strong representations from the State Department to each of our representatives in these countries that went out over the signature of the Secretary of State that I worked with Under Secretary Ball to prepare, with the President's concurrence, that says this was a matter of grave concern, and our ministers were urged to make the strongest representation to the governments in question. So we have been on this and on it hard for a whole year. Senator STENNIS. That is the point I wanted to get. I am impressed with your presentation here, and the strength of your position in it? Representative GARY. Will the Senator yield to me? On this program today they had the Ambassador from Holland, and he stated that these meetings had been postponed because of the consideration of the Common Market countries with reference to the failure to take Britain into the Common Market, and the impression was left that there would be some delays because of that. Would that interfere with this program in any way? Mr. GOSSETT. It certainly would delay it. I heard the same report. It was the one to which I referred earlier. It would delay the decision and it is something to which we should give some attention immediately. Senator MORSE. May I say that I greatly appreciate what Secretary Freeman has been doing on behalf of these particular agricultural items. But I want to respectfully say that I don't think there is any hope of success in the procedure which the administration has followed, because we are departmentalized and segmentized, and they picked us off item by item. And it calls for an entire review of American foreign policy vis-a-vis NATO. We have poured better than $41 billion into the NATO countries since World War II, and we can't continue. And I say most respectfully that American producers are not going to be protected by the State Department under the procedures that the State Department follows. And the time has come for the Congress to review this whole matter of foreign policy in respect to the NATO countries. You speak, Mr. Secretary, about the balance of trade being in our favor. That is only now. They don't intend to leave it that way. That is not the purpose of the Common Market. The purpose of the Common Market is to change that just as fast as they can. And I don't intend to bite at that carrot. I think the time has come for a complete review of our foreign policy toward Europe, and that means we have got to take a look at NATO now and make perfectly clear that they need us more than we need them. And if they don't want to come in and help protect economic freedom in the free world as well as political freedom, the time has come for somebody to stand up in Parisas an American colonel did in 1917, and said, “Lafayette, we are here" and say, "De Gaulle, here we go." I think it is just that simple. Senator BYRD. Any further questions? I would like to say that this is not a senatorial meeting. And I hope the Congressmen will have something to say, because we are trying to complete a record which I think will be very valuable later on. Any questions? (No response.) Senator BYRD. Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary: (The following was later received for the record:) HARRISONBURG-ROCKINGHAM CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, INC., Hon. ORVILLE L. FREEMAN, Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. MY DEAR MR. SECRETARY: In 1962 the poultry industry contributed nearly $60 million to the economy of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, and it has an immeasurable effect on virtually all other segments of our economic base. It is, therefore, understandable that the increased import tariffs levied by the European Common Market against the poultry industfy has greatly disturbed this area. The Harrisonburg-Rockingham Chamber of Commerce very strongly endorses the recommendations of the poultry industry regarding elimination of these discriminatory trade barriers. We believe that future growth of the poultry industry is dependent upon the Federal Government taking the necessary steps to bring about implementation of a fair and equitable tariff arrangement. The business people of this area appreciate the interest you personally have shown in this problem and hope you will continue your efforts to gain establishment of the policy you outlined in France last month. This request represents not only agricultural interests, but that of our total business community of commercial and industrial firms. Through their common organization, the Chamber of Commerce, they urge you to push for removal of Common Market variable import levies on poultry. It is encouraging to learn of your forthcoming meeting on February 5 with Senator Harry F. Byrd and the Senators from the other poultry States. The businessmen of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County are anticipating significant progress to come out of this conference. Very truly yours, GARY A. SHAW, Executive Vice President. RESOLUTION BY REGION V, VIRGINIA JUNIOR CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Consisting of Broadway-Timberville, Charlottesville, Culpeper, Elkton, Harrisonburg-Rockingham, Louisa, Luray, Madison, Orange, Staunton, Stuarts Draft, Waynesboro, Woodstock Whereas the European Common Market is putting into operation a system of highly protectionist measures which are designed to restrict export opportunities for U.S. poultry and other agricultural products, and Whereas these measures are inconsistent with and repugnant to basic fair trading principles which have been established under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade: Therefore be it Resolved, That this Virginia Junior Chamber of Commerce condemn the use of such devices as gate prices, variable levies, and similar discriminatory measures which have, as their principal purpose, the effect of strangulation of trade instead of promoting free trade between countries, and be it further Resolved, That the Virginia Junior Chamber of Commerce urge that the President of the United States utilize all of the powers available to him under the Trade Expansion Act to bring about a removal of such unfair barriers against our poultry and other agricultural products and that, if necessary, similar measures be used against the goods of the offending countries to the end that such trade barriers may be eliminated so that mutually beneficial trade may be conducted between the countries of the free world. The Virginia Bankers Association views with alarm the protectionist characteristics of the Common Market trade policies as specifically exhibited in tariffs imposed by the Common Market countries on poultry. These protectionist tariff policies have, and unless changed, will continue to adversely affect the poultry industry in Virginia, and under existing practices could well be extended to encompass other industries to the further detriment of the economy of Virginia and the Nation: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Virginia Bankers Association urges the proper officials of our Government, State and National, to take appropriate steps to correct these artificial, unrealistic barriers to free trade and to work within the framework of existing laws to protect American interests in the world trade markets. The above resolution was unanimously adopted by the board of directors of the Virginia Bankers Association at a meeting held in Richmond, Va., on January 30, 1963. RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF VIRGINIA FARM BUREAU FEDERATION, JANUARY 23, 1963 COMMON MARKET TRADE RESTRICTIONS Mutually beneficial trade among the free nations of the world offers the best and possibly the only hope of permanently unifying freedom-loving people economically, politically, ideologically, and militarily. Toward the attainment of this objective, the people of the United States have furnished both money and encouragement in the development of the European Economic Community which has vastly strengthened both the will and the ability of the member nations to resist Communist aggression and thus remain free and unrestricted in their pursuit of the appropriate objectives of all freedomloving people. Unrealistic protectionist trade policies will inevitably bring disharmony, misunderstanding, and economic stagnation to the world's free nations, including the United States and the member nations of the European Economic Community. We cannot continue to buy the products and services of other nations or to provide foreign aid, including military assistance, unless we in turn are given an opportunity to recover our dollar expenditures through sales of American goods and services on a reasonably competitive basis. To do so will accelerate the drain on our gold reserves and eventually wipe out these reserves entirely, destroying the basis of the faith and confidence which the free world has in the American dollar as a dependable medium of international exchange. For these and other reasons, we are tremendously disturbed by recent actions taken by the Council of Ministers of the European Economic Community which have had the effect of excluding our efficiently produced poultry products from the market and denying to European consumers the advantages of these economical and delectable products. |