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U.S. TRADE DEFICIT WORST SINCE 1992:A
CONSEQUENCE OF NAFTA&GATT

Daily Republican- http://www.dailyrepublican.com/
10-21-98 Howard Hobbs 

Wednesday October 21, 1998 

US Trade Deficit Worst Since 1992
Consequence of the NAFTA and GATT agreements weakening U.S. in world
markets.

By Howard Hobbs, Editors' Desk 

WASHINGTON - It is anticipated that the Clinton administration's trade deficit will
reach or exceed $300 billion.

The Commerce Department reported on Tuesday that the Clinton administration's
trade deficit worsened by $2.2 billion in August to $16.77 billion. A sharp increase
in overseas imports and a sudden decline in American exports resulted in the U.S.
economy's worst performance since Bill Clinton entered the White House in 1992. 

Deficit is the logical consequence of the NAFTA and GATT agreements weakening
U.S. in world markets. It is much worse than any in recent memory. It is already
$170 billion for the year.

Conservative estimates place the Clinton trade deficit in 1999 at $300 billion and
cutting sharply into growth. It is generally considered the political poison pill for the
administration.

Despite continued growth of the Chinese economy, exports to China have slowed
dramatically and imports of Chinese-made goods have exploded as the Chicoms
desperately seek to sell goods here that would ordinarily be sold elsewhere in Asia.
That manuever increased the monthly U.S. deficit with Beijing to $5.9 billion, a level
previously only seen in the onerous trade imbalance with Japan. 

Making matters worse, the Chinese communist government in Beijing is showing
precious little interest in any move to open their markets or to participate in the
globalism represented in the Clinton sponsored World Trade Organization. 

Until the deal with China fell apart, this week, the Clinton White House had openly
boasted that China's entry into the WTO was his best foreign policy achievement.

Even more dubious was what happened after the Clinton White House moved to
help bail-out Mexico. The biggest deterioration in the American trade balance came
in Mexico, where the peso has weakened markedly as economic recession spread
through Latin America.

Taking advantage of favorable currency exchange rates of the dollar over the peso,
the U.S. imported a marked increase in automobiles, auto parts, and cellular
telecomm equipment from Brazil, Latin America's largest economy. 

The Clinton administration and the International Monetary Fund then discovered
that Brazil's economy had stalled out. This, produced so much worry in Washington
that the U.S. and the IMF quickly worked out a complete bailout package of $30
billion for Brazil, all wrapped up and strategically placed deep inside the Omnibus
Budget Bill passed by Congress late in the week, without public disclosure.

Meanwhile, major U.S. steel companies are complaining to the Clinton
administration that Asian countries are dumping inferior steel products on the U.S.
market at below cost prices forcing U.S. steel workers out of work and U.S. Steel
mills to shut down. 

Adding insult to injury, Commerce now confirms data that the deficit rose 15.3
percent to $74.8 billion in August while imports rose to $91.6 billion. With such a
concrete measure of the effects of Clinton foreign policy on the U.S. and his key
role in presiding over the global economic downturn no wonder the Clinton White
House wants to keep this under wraps until after the November 3rd election. 

� Copyright 1998 HTML Graphics By The Daily Republican Newspaper. All
rights reserved. 



Posted by: hope () *
10/21/98 18:14:22 PDT