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Show THE VOICE OF BUSINESS f ?r3(d fsuugv be feis" to b ?tr j By Richard L. Lcslier, President Chamber of Commerce of the United States It isn't often I feel justified in praising the Administration and both houses of ' Congress all in the same column; but this being one of those occasions, let me quickly seize it before it slips away. The Administration has successfully negotiated, and the Congress has just overwhelmingly approved, the largest trade agreement in history - one that will touch the lives of us all from manufaturers and farmers, to retailers, workers and consumers. The best thing about this trade agreement agree-ment (the Tokyo Round of the Multilateral Trade Negotiations, or MTN) is that it will be good for America. It could create 100,000 new jobs and generate billions of dollars in foreign orders for our products. And let's face it, we need to get into foreign trade in a big way. We've all been much too complacent about the need to better compete with our trading partners, and about the potential benefits such competition com-petition offers our economy. By some estimates, one out of every eight domestic manufacturing jobs already depends directly on exports, and approximately one out of every three dollars of business profits stems from international trade. In agriculture, the relationship is equally apparent. One out of every four acres of cropland now produces for overseas markets. SO we have an obvious incentive to win new foreign markets. More exports will mean higher profits and new jobs. And that means a higher standard of living, because as other nations seek to purchase a greater share of American products, the value of our dollar will be bid up in relation to other currencies. And with a stronger dollar, our take-home take-home pay will be worth more than before. That's an important point to emphasize in these inflationary times and in this interdependent world where many American industries must depend de-pend on foreign raw materials and component com-ponent parts to manufacture the products pro-ducts they sell. Our economy operates at a sophisticated level, reflecting our abundance abun-dance of highly skilled white and blue collar workers. Common sense tells us we should push hard to sell moreo, high technology products, and f trade agreement will help us do thar a number of ways. 1; First, the Tokyo Round agrees will result in an approximate one1 reduction in world tariffs. These amJ! taxes governments put on inJ goods to reduce foreign compS and protect their domestic indusbs and political constituencies. Acta this one-third reduction is not as? it sounds, because current tariff average 8-10 percent in the industrial ed countries, and tariffs are no Z the major barrier they once were Z were substantially reduced by the K ' nedy Round which preceded the Toh Round. Of greater significance are the nontariff codes of conduct. TheyretK sent understandings on how the nfe will be laid out ... and hopefully i, played. In the past, countries have n fairly used these nontariff measures-stack measures-stack the deck against us. For instance' some industries like steel have been p-at p-at an almost hopeless disadvantage; the huge subsidies their foreign cot petitors receive from their owngover. ments. A third area of major importance; agriculture. American farmers willi 1 able to sell more overseas than thejt ! now. The consessions on tariffs at-quotas at-quotas represent nearly $4 billion wc ' of 1976 exports, and that's web;' j news. On paper, this agreement me 11 good. In reality, it won't be ?; $ anything unless our government; fi tough enough to enforce it. That met a standing behind American firms c P calling the hands of thier competir H when they break the rules. Ji And one final point. If we are tote "( pete more effectively, or even at alb & need the incentives to do so. Pet; au work harder and take risks if then C the chance of reward. That's why ; ' Russians, for example, with someol: m largest and richest grain tracts in : 8 world, cannot match the producti: ml American farmers. Indeed, just t of the possible tragic consequences we tried to run our farms t r Washington as they do theirs In , Moscow. For, if that did happen, & 0V would we ever feed the Russianpeot pro not |