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Letter to USTR on Massachusetts Bur



Subject: Letter to USTR on Massachusetts Burma Law

July 22, 1997

Charlene Barshefsky
U.S. Trade Representative
Winder Building, Room 201
600 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20508

Dear Ambassador Barshefsky,

As Members of the U.S. Congress from the State of Massachusetts, we are
deeply disturbed by the decision by the European Union and Japan to
formally challenge the Massachusetts Burma selective purchasing law at the
World Trade Organization (WTO). 

We are wholly supportive of fostering good relations between Europe, Japan
and the United States. However, we strongly believe that it is highly
inappropriate for the European Union and Japan to involve themselves in the
internal affairs of Massachusetts. It is not the place of the European
Union and Japan to dictate how the Massachusetts legislature and state
government should spend its own taxpayers? money. The people of
Massachusetts have long vested the power to levy taxes and spend public
money with our elected representatives, not European and Japanese bureaucrats.

We also note that the Massachusetts Burma selective purchasing law is
strongly supported by the legitimate leader of the Burmese democracy
movement. Aung San Suu Kyi. The leader of the party that won the 1990
Burmese elections, Aung San Suu Kyi remarked in a recent interview that
selective purchasing laws are very effective means of restoring democracy
in Burma. She also specifically praised the Massachusetts Burma law.

We fear that, by placing European and Japanese corporate interests first,
the European Union and Japan risk undermining their principled stand
against the Burmese military junta. In March, the European Commission
revoked Burma?s tariff preferences because of the military junta?s
pervasive use of forced labor. The new British government recently cut its
support for trade promotion in Burma and has "not ruled out the possibility
of further measures, including economic sanctions" against the illegal
military junta. Japan has called for dialogue between the military junta
and the democracy movement.

Opinion in Europe in particular towards business in Burma is best typified
by the recent and unanimous resolution on Burma passed by the European
Parliament. The resolution called on the European Union to enact economic
sanctions on Burma. Moreover, in its resolution, the European Parliament
specifically urged the European Commission not to take action against the
Massachusetts Burma law under the WTO dispute settlement procedures.

We ask the U.S. Trade Representative to weigh the support for the
Massachusetts Burma law from the peoples of Europe, Japan, Massachusetts
and, most importantly, Burma itself.  We strongly urge the U.S. Trade
Representative to oppose the unfair and inappropriate efforts by the
European Union and Japan to force Massachusetts to amend its Burma law. 

Rep. Barney Frank
Rep. Edward Markey
Rep. Joseph Kennedy
Rep. Matin Meehan
Rep. John Tierney
Rep. Richard Neal
Rep. Joseph Moakley
Rep. John Olver
Rep. James McGovern
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