DATE: Thursday, October 16, 1997            TAG: 9710160003

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B14  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: OPINION 

SOURCE: BY JAMES P. MORAN 

                                            LENGTH:   72 lines

A BIG STAKE IN FAST TRACK DEBATE

Congress is poised to debate legislation that will have a lasting impact on the ability of Virginia's business community to compete effectively in the global economy of the 21st century.

At stake is whether we will extend to President Clinton the exact same authority to negotiate international trade agreements as has been granted to every president since Gerald Ford. In a state which exported $11.6 billion in goods last year - and billions more in services - Virginians should sit up and take notice of Fast Track.

For those struggling to understand this increasingly shrill debate, it's helpful to know what Fast Track is and what it is not.

First, it's not about NAFTA, or Chile, or trade with any specific nation. Rather, Fast Track refers to a generic procedure under which Congress must authorize trade negotiations before they begin, monitor them while they are under way, and vote on them - on a strict up or down basis - if and when they are brought to a successful conclusion.

This last point, approving trade deals on an up and down vote without amendment, is what makes Fast Track so contentious. Opponents contend that Congress should be able to change trade agreements after they have been carefully negotiated by the president. Such an approach has proved to be extremely impractical. Congress first established Fast Track in 1974 after it was readily apparent that no president could effectively represent the United States in trade talks if Congress could subsequently pick apart the details of these agreements line by line. In fact, many nations won't even deal with us under these circumstances.

The loss of fast track authority threatens to derail the enormous progress that this nation has made in lowering tariff and nontariff barriers to increased trade. This progress, which has been supported by Democrats and Republicans alike, can be seen in a 42 percent jump in exports of manufactured goods since 1993, a 46 percent jump in high technology exports and a 33 percent rise in service exports. With the administration set to liberalize trade in telecommunications, information technologies and government procurement, the failure to extend Fast Track will undermine our competitive position and stifle continued economic growth.

Second, Fast Track has been unfairly characterized as a debate about the labor and environmental practices of our trading partners. While these are vital concerns - and ones that I have worked actively to address - they are not appropriate for inclusion in Fast Track legislation. One reason is that there is nothing in existing law to preclude this or any president from making labor and environmental issues the subject of trade negotiations. Other presidents have done so.

At issue is whether Congress should mandate that as a matter of law all trade negotiations must contain labor and environmental provisions. In my view, doing so unnecessarily ties the president's hands. Moreover, it is questionable whether other nations will negotiate with us if they knew the result would require a change in, or elimination of, their own domestic laws.

Finally, those who are sincerely concerned about labor and environmental conditions overseas ignore one of history's great lessons: Free and open trade increases prosperity, fosters democracy and helps to ameliorate the poverty and environmental degradation so common to closed and emerging economies.

For almost four centuries, the strength of Virginia's economy has been linked closely to trade, first with the Old Worlds of Europe and Asia and today with a truly new world marked by modern information technologies and fierce global competition.

By extending Fast Track trade authority, we have the opportunity to assure that businesses in Virginia and all across America continue to reach out aggressively to the 96 percent of the world's population that lives beyond our national borders.

It is an opportunity we should seize. MEMO: Mr. Moran represents Virginia's 8th Congressional District. He is

a member of the House Appropriations Committee and a co-chairman of the

New Democrat Coalition.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu