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Remarks of the President to the American Conference on Trade [Ford Speech or Statement]
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Remarks of the President to the American Conference on Trade [Ford Speech or Statement]
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Digitized from Box 5 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 3, 1974
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
TO THE
AMERICAN CONFERENCE ON TRADE
THE SHERATON PARK HOTEL
8:42 P.M. EST
Thank you very much, Walter, distinguished
members of the Cabinet, public officials, dedicated
American citizens, ladies and gentlemen:
It is a great privilege and a very high
honor to have the opportunity of participating in this
American Conference on Trade. At the outset, let me assure
you that I thank you and I congratulate you on the magnificent
efforts that you have made during the day, and previously,
and I exhort you to continue your efforts until we are
successful in the achievement of the objective that has
been determined, which is in the best interest of our
country.
Within the last several weeks, I traveled about
half way around the world. I met leaders of Japan, Korea
and the Soviet Union, and I am here tonight to call on
you, my fellow Americans, to come with me on an even
greater journey, a journey that could be without a question
of a doubt the most important in our lives, yours and
mine, and will affect countless of Americans for many, many
years to come.
It is, very simply put, to redefine, to reshape
the role of the United States in world trade. Those of
you who are serious and cognizant, and all of you are, about
the problems we face on this globe, you know that it is a new
world out there. We are witnessing today a worldwide
economic revolution.
New, acute economic problems and concerns have
moved onto the world scene with startling swiftness.
Nations, large as well as small, are redefining their
national interests. Some talks in terms of economic bloc
or area advantages, and there are those who face the
increasing threat of a simple, very stark reality --
survival.
MORE
Page 2
The United States, and most nations, face the
most serious economic challenge of the post-war period.
Problems of energy, food, inflation, recession, pose
unprecedented threats in all parts of the world. They
threaten employment; they threaten income. They jeopardize
international economic cooperation, and they menace
political and security relationships that the United
States has taken a generation to construct.
Unless
approach these problems constructively
and cooperatively with our principal trading partners,
we in the world may face a crisis of the most serious
proportions. These times call for positive, constructive
American leadership.
The United States cannot afford to drift in a
sea of international uncertainty at a time when its highest
economic interests call for very decisive action. We
cannot honestly claim leadership of the free world if
we do not influence with practical policies and real
purpose greater economic cooperation.
We must be under no illusion that we can go it
alone. I think that is why all of you are here tonight
and why I am here. And that is the reason the journey
we undertake here must go on vigorously, effectively
and constructively.
The word must go out from here tonight to the
American people, and to the people of other nations,
and especially our friends in the Congress, that America
has made a very serious decision. We must pass the Trade
Reform Act now.
It is essential to the future of the United
States trade policy and that of the world as well. The
health of our domestic economy and the strength -- yes, the
verystructure -- of our international economic relations
are deeply involved.
The Congress must act -- and I say this with the
utmost seriousness -- or its inaction will gravely
affect my efforts or anybody else's efforts to turn our
economy upward. It will severely limit my ability
or the ability of anybody else, to work for international
economic cooperation abroad.
MORE
Page 3
You and I know that this legislation will, in all
probability, be long delayed, possibly stymied forever, if it
is not passed in the current session of this Congress. From
a very practical point of view, it means that for the next
year or more when the economic situation calls for decisive
decisions, I will serve as your President without the power
to fulfill my responsibilities in the crucial area of our
Nation's trade.
This vital bill, the Trade Reform bill, has been
pending before Congress for nearly two years. Actually, no
President of the United States has had the authority to
negotiate international trade matters since 1967. Inter-
national trade relations have not been really revamped since
that time. It has been 40 years, as we look back over the
pages of history, since passage of the Nation's historic and
fundamental Trade Agreements Act of 1934.
The central issue of trade reform is the close inter-
relationship between our domestic economy on the one-hand and
our economic interrelations. And let us look at this important
interrelationship for just a moment.
Admittedly, the American economy is in a recession at
the present time. Inflation pressures are many. Fear of
unemployment is increasing among our people.
The highest priority of this Administration in the
weeks and months ahead, as has been said since I took office
four months ago, will be to attack these growing and changing
economic problems, and one of the most effective ways to start
is to pass the trade reform legislation in our national
self-interest. Obviously, I will need the full cooperation of
the Congress. That is essential for all 213 million Americans.
I will, and I have certainly welcomed the comments
by the Senate Majority Leader, Mike Mansfield, for bipartisan
cooperation. I commend the Senate Committee on Finance and
Chairman Russell Long for acting with restraint and not
attaching unrelated amendments.
The international economy faces very similar difficulties
Inflation is a world-wide problem. Most of the economies of the
industrialized world have swung into a downward cycle, partly
as a consequence of inflationary distortions.
International cooperation is absolutely essential
if the world is to conquer this twin illness of global recession
and global inflation. We in the United States must develop
a coordinated domestic and international approach to inflation
and to recession. Trade is vital, essential, critical to that
program.
Two-way trade for America amounted to $163 billion
for the first 10 months of this calendar year. Those are the
latest figures. This leaves our current trade balance at a
deficit of some $2.3 billion. This is due chiefly to
MORE
Page 4
the huge increase in the cost of imported oil. In the first
10 months of this year, oil imports cost us $20.1 billion
compared to $7.8 billion for all of 1973. Thus, without the
enormous increase in oil costs, we would have a good-sized
surplus this year.
The United States enjoyed a $1.3 billion surplus
last year. This is important to note: our exports, for the
first 10 months of this year, are running at an annual rate
of 36 percent above 1973.
MORE
Page 5
These exports add up to many jobs for Americans
in all parts of our country and in all sectors of our
society. Some three million American workers owe their livelihood
to our American exports -- from stevedores to aircraft
machinists to white collar workers staffing American
corporations.
Even the smallest of our business organizations
in this country, three out of five successful American
exporters have fewer than 100 employees. More than
20 percent of American farm income derives from sales
abroad.
Trade -- everybody in this room knows -- is
the bread and butter issue to workers and businesses in
our community, large, small, in all parts of our
50 States. That means farms on the one hand, business on
the other, and industry as a whole.
Over the years the effect of trade on our
economy has been highly favorable. The U.S. economy,
consumers, workers, benefit from imports as well as
exports. The explanation is relatively simple -- our
total imports for the first ten months of this year
amounted to approximately $83 billion. About $37 billion
of that figure were essential to American production,
metals, foods, chemicals, minerals, including oil.
Many American businesses are heavily dependent on
imported materials. Let me offer just a couple of
specific examples of how imports help us as an industrial
nation.
We are almost entirely dependent on foreign
countries for such vital materials as chromium, platinum,
titanium and manganese. More than 85 percent of our
aluminium comes from overseas; so does most of our bauxite.
When we add the vigor from these imports to the
strength of exporting, we can see the significance of
trade to America's economic health.
Trade adds to the income, the income of the
American labor force and to our economic pre-eminence
in the world at large.
There will be no plus in our balance of trade
this year because of the severe high cost of importing oil.
Otherwise, we could be and would be very much in the
black.
MORE
Page 6
Nationally, I consider the price we are paying
for oil as much too high. It is raising havoc on
our domestic economy. If you deduct the increased cost
of oil imports, the U.S. exhibits a favorable trade
balance of nearly $8 billion during the first six months
of 1974.
Oil price increases are upsetting the
entire international economic system. The adjustments,
the answers, must come from international bargaining,
from international cooperation, and that is the top priority
of this Administration.
The overall effect of our trade is highly
favorable, but the Trade Reform Act makes specific
provision to assist those who might be adversely
affected by imports.
No sector of our economy will be left to face
serious disruption. The legislation clearly states --
and I will vigorously support such provisions -- that
we will assist workers, firms, communities adversely
affected by imports.
In these very difficult times, it may be
tempting for some in our great country to turn inward.
Powerful forces in this country are not only thinking
but actually urging an inward course on legislation, not
only in the Trade Reform Act but in many other
pieces of legislation.
This, in my judgment, would reverse American post-
war trade and other policies and would be enormously
harmful to us as to the rest of the globe, our
allies as well as our adversaries.
It is my strong feeling -- and I say this with
the deepest conviction -- let us turn outward to view
the complex picture of international trade. Our nation
lives and acts in the world community within a very
intricate framework. It is the framework of political
security and economic ties that binds nations everywhere
together.
There are those in the world who believe that
unilateral and bilateral action, promoting their own
self-interest, is the quickest and the most promising
solution to their problems. I categorically reject
that view.
We must believe, and I certainly do, that this
policy can only lead to conflict, an unending series of
flare-ups and disputes in all parts of the world.
MORE
Page 7
In contrast, the United States believes, and
I am committed to this policy if the Congress will
urgently let me negotiate, that the only real answer is
the long-range solution of total world cooperation.
I seek multilateral solutions to common
problems that will benefit all nations, but I need the
Trade Reform Act, and I need it now, if the President of the
United States is to have any voice in the international scene.
Let me spell out, if I might, some of the con-
sequences if I do not obtain this legislation from this
Congress before it adjourns.
The coming GATT international trade negotiations
involving 105 members would be dealt a crippling setback.
I would like the necessary legislative authority to
implement my accords or any accords; therefore, it would
be virtually impossible to arrive at any substantial
trade agreements.
The United States international, political,
military, economic commitments would be seriously under-
mined. This, in my opinion, would encourage unrest and
would certainly encourage world instability.
But let's be even more precise, if I might. In
energy, Secretaries Kissinger and Bill Simon are working
diligently on international cooperation, but
this cooperation cannot be one in a world involved with
increasing strife in trade.
The international monetary system needs
significant improvement. If we slide back into trade wars,
we undermine our honest efforts to keep the international
monetary system functioning effectively. Friendly trade
is a must if we are to improve our market imbalances.
Trade is necessary so that developing countries
can pay back various forms of outside assistance. Some
of the developing nations are directly involved in our
own growth. They own raw materials and other commodities
in short supply, essential to our development.
The Trade Reform Act offers me sufficient
negotiating authority to achieve a substantial reduction
in tariff levels on a worldwide basis. It would allow me
to work toward greater market access for U.S. products
abroad, adding innumerable thousands of jobs in our own
50 States.
MORE
Page 8
This means jobs for Americans. That means
a healthier economy. That means Congress has a duty and
an obligation to pass this legislation now.
Let me use one other fact, if I might. I can
assure you from my recent experiences that the Soviets
are not sitting back. They are not looking for a seat
as a spectator. They want and they will get part
of the action.
The Soviets are ready to trade, politically,
economically, but it will take time. It will take
negotiation on the one hand, so very hard bargaining on
the other.
We have made a good beginning politically, a
breakthrough on controlling the latest generation of
nuclear weapons, a breakthrough for peace.
Let us make the same breakthrough for trade,
essential for detente and progress around the world.
In 1973 the United States achieved a trade
surplus of more than $1 billion from the Soviet Union.
Another $900,000 surplus came from other Communist
countries around the world. Trade with these nations
was, therefore, a very crucial factor in our overall trade
surplus of $1.7 billion in 1973.
The Soviets will not deal unless we work to
achieve mutually beneficial economic policies, including
the elimination of discrimination against their trade,
and unless we are willing to provide appropriate levels
of credit within the framework established by the
Congress.
Let's be very clear about this. Our competitive
trading partners of Western Europe and Japan are
issuing credits to Communist countries with which they are
now trading. Their record shows that the Soviet credit
is good. The credits we issue are small compared to
our Western trading partners.
The world today looks to the United States of
America for leadership. We have provided this since the
end of World War II. We did not provide it prior to World
War II. Therefore, I would find it inexcusable, as
would many Members of Congress and many Americans, if this
legislation were to die as a result of delay and
procrastination.
MORE
Page 9
The Congress and the Executive Branch have
cooperated more closely -- and I might say at a greater
length -- on this bill than in any other single
piece of legislation in the past six years. I can
recount in the four months that I have been
President a number of meetings with various Senators,
various other Members of the Congress, in trying to find
a reasonable, constructive compromise on how we might
move this legislation forward, and I can assure you that I
will personally continue these efforts in the remaining
weeks of this session of the Congress.
And let me add this, if I might. And I see how
many members of my Cabinet are here -- three, four.
They are being told tonight, and everybody in their
department, that this is the job of highest priority to
get this legislation through between now and adjournment.
And I will add a P.S. If they don't get it
through, they are at fault, and you are, too. (Laughter)
MORE
Page 10
Well, let me just conclude with these observations
and comments.
I would find it inexcusable if this legislation were
to become encumbered with nonrelated or nongermane amendments.
This is somewhat technical, but those of us who have struggled
in the Congress for sometime know precisely what it means.
Thesewould be unrelated amendments, not related to the funda-
mentals of trade legislation under any circumstances.
They would be amendments that had no prior con-
sideration at all in the Senate Committee on Finance. They
would be extraneous to the subject matter that has brought all
of you to the Nation's Capitol.
I think the time has come; it is far too serious
for this important legislation to be encumbered by these non-
related or nongermane amendments. So, as you go through the
halls and into the offices on Capitol Hill, make the point
strongly, effectively, that this legislation must stand on
its own and should not be overwhelmed with amendments that
have no relationship to trade per se.
At this critical moment in our legislative history on
this legislation, I don't think we can afford the gamesmanship
of nonrelated, nongermane amendments.
I see some former colleagues of mine in the House
of Representatives. In the main, we were able to keep non-
germane amendments out of the House version of the bill.
The burden is now on the United States Senate to do exactly
the same.
And let me conclude with these final observations,
if I might. I happen to believe that a society is great if its
people think greatly, if its people act greatly, and this is
a moment for greatness in America.
The journey which we together have started here
tonight has no end. For the labor we undertake will never
be complete: to help build a world economy that will contribute
to the health and prosperity of people everywhere throughout
this globe.
Every nation must carry its share of that great
burden to uplift itself on the one-hand and others as we move
ahead.
Every nation. must reach out, out to others, to work
together, to share in sweat and in sacrifice, secure in the
knowledge that none will have to go it alone. This truly,
as I see it, could be one of the world's finest hours. With
your help, with our cooperation and with the dedication of
everybody, we can make it SO. Thank you very much.
END
(AT 9:09 P.M. EST)