ATR: Opinions & Editorials: Congress' Choice: Give Trade Power To Bush Or See Economy Decline 12/5/01

BY: Grover Norquist for Investor's Business Daily
DATE: December 5, 2001
SECTION: A; Pg. 18
LENGTH: 700 words

On Thursday, the House of Representatives will cast the most important vote of the Bush administration. This vote is the most significant tax cut legislation of the decade. If successful, it will create millions of jobs, boost the financial markets, secure democratic governments throughout the Western Hemisphere, reduce the pressures of mass immigration, and give the president a powerful tool to reward those nations that support us in the fight against terrorism and punish those slow to aid us.

The legislation in question is the presidential Trade Promotion Authority, or TPA, also known as fast-track legislation. TPA will allow the president to negotiate bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements and present them for an up or down vote in the House and Senate. Congress can vote yes or no. It will not be allowed to serve special interests by tacking endless amendments onto already negotiated
treaties.

Without TPA, other nations will not even begin to negotiate with the U.S., given that any agreement they make would still be subject to congressional amendment. Every president since Richard Nixon has had this authority. It lapsed under President Clinton because he needed the labor union leaders' financial support for Al Gore. Today, 130 trade and investment agreements exist worldwide. Because Clinton gave up TPA, the U.S. is party to only three: treaties with Israel, Jordan and the North America Free Trade Agreement. Europe has sped ahead of us in opening up markets in Latin America and elsewhere.

Taxes At The Border Since the creation of the income tax in 1913 and the advent of state sales taxes in the 1930s, Americans have not focused as much on tariffs. Tariffs are simply taxes at the border, and for most of our history were the major source of government income (along with land sales). Tariffs have also been a major source of political conflict. The Revolutionary War had as one cause British tariffs on tea and restrictions on our overseas trade. The Civil War was about slavery and the Tariff of Abominations, supported by the
industrializing North and opposed by the Southern states. The Great Depression followed the imposition of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, and the stock market fell dramatically the day it became clear the tariff increase would pass.

Free trade and tariff reductions can be a powerful foreign policy tool. The ancient Romans were irritated at the prosperous city-state of Rhodes - of Colossus of Rhodes fame - for remaining too neutral in their war with Philip of Macedonia. Their revenge? They didn't sack the city. They simply established a rival free port in the Isle of Delos. This port had no tariffs. Rhodes had a 2% tariff on goods. In one year, Rhodes' tariff receipts fell 85%. With the ability to quickly negotiate tariff reductions, President Bush can negotiate with China by reducing tariffs on trade with Pakistan and India. Nations that cooperate with our struggle against terrorism can join our free trade zones. There will be real benefits to friendship with the world's largest market - not just state
dinners and photo ops.

A Bush presidency with TPA can create a free trade zone throughout the democracies of the Western Hemisphere. We can expand the benefits of trade throughout Africa, Asia and even breach the walls of a would-be protectionist fortress in Europe. But only if TPA passes.

Without TPA, the European Union will develop as a rival to America. It will expand its trade at our expense and leave us outside a trading bloc rather than leading a free trade empire. If the House passes TPA, then the Senate will follow. Tom Daschle, who usually represents the interests of Washington, D.C., and the union bosses rather than South Dakota's farmers and workers, will have to yield. It is an understatement to point out that this is the most important vote by the Congress in this decade.

There are two clear paths before us. If the House votes for TPA, it will be choosing the path of growth, prosperity, peace and American strength and leadership. If the House votes TPA down, the other path will be grim indeed. Grover Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform.