March 12,2001

Grassley Announces Trade Hearing; Greenspan to Testify


**** R E M I N D E R ****

Hearing: “International Trade and the American Economy”

Date/time: Wednesday, April 4, 2001, at 10 a.m.

Location: 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Description: Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Committee on Finance, recognizes that tradeliberalization -- the 40-year, American-led effort to open new markets and bringdown tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers -- has yielded tremendous benefits for theAmerican economy, while raising the level of wealth for the many nations that haveparticipated in this market-opening process. We see the contribution of this tradeliberalization today in the low inflation, higher productivity, greater consumer choice,and increased standard of living that characterizes our economy in 2001. However,the role of trade liberalization in fashioning this extraordinary economic success storyis not apparent to most Americans, even to those who work in export-sensitive fields.This hearing will examine the contributions of trade in helping to create the economywe know today.

At the same time, the hearing will explore timely questions regarding the role of tradein the economic conditions we face, such as whether the United States should changeour pursuit of trade agreements based on the current state of the economy.

Witness List

Panel One:
The Honorable Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System,Washington, D.C.

Panel Two:
The Honorable Mickey Kantor, Former Secretary of Commerce and United States TradeRepresentative, Washington, D.C.