Uruguay round and U.S. trade policy: a foundation for the future. (Carla A. Hills address) (transcript)

Uruguay Round and U.S. Trade Policy: A Foundation for the Future

Address before the American Chamber of Commerce (U.K.) and the Royal Institute for International Affairs in London on September 14, 1989. Ambassador Hills is U.S. Trade Representative.

Trade and London are inseparable. For centuries they have gone together like a stiff wind and a schooner's sails. Open trade is the keystone of your prosperity. Three revered Britons--David Hume, Adam Smith, David Ricardo--are the intellectual heroes of those of us who now defend and seek to expand the free trade system. That system persists but is sorely strained--tested by governments that impede the free play of market forces, distort trade, and constrain competition.

I am here today to assure you that the trade policy of the Bush Administration emanates from the spirit of Hume, Smith, and Ricardo and is dedicated to the expansion of open trade.

Earlier this year, President Bush conducted an extensive review of the global trading system and of our trade policy. I should like to outline for you the results of our deliberations; in particular, to articulate the goal of U.S. trade policy, our strategy for achieving it, and the centrality to it of the Uruguay Round.

Trade Goals and Strategy for the 1990s

We have, I assure you, a clear vision of the world that we seek: one where entrepreneurs, not government bureaucrats, determine how industries and farms compete and how nations trade.

The policy of the Bush Administration is to open markets, not to close them; to create an ever-expanding global trading system based upon clear and enforceable rules.

The President has designed, and we are vigorously executing, a three-pronged strategy to achieve our vision.

* We are committed--and we are challenging our trading partners to match our commitment--to conclude successfully the …