COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS

DAN ROSTENKOWSKI, Illinois, Chairman

ROBERT J. LEONARD, Chief Counsel PHILLIP D. MOSELEY, Minority Chief of Staff

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS,

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, DC, January 27, 1989.

Hon. DAN ROSTENKOWSKI,

Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Since 1981, the Committee on Ways and Means has completed action on a large volume of legislation relating to international trade. During that period, the Committee's work has resulted in the enactment of two major omnibus trade laws: the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984 and the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988. In addition, three new laws relating to bilateral and regional trade relations have been enacted: the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act of 1983; the United StatesIsrael Free Trade Agreement Act of 1985; and the United StatesCanada Free Trade Agreement Act of 1988. There have also been numerous other statutory changes since 1981 relating to such matters as customs procedures, tariff classifications and trade agency authorizations.

In an effort to supplement the Committee's ongoing work to compile these authorities into useful source materials, the Committee is publishing a new collection of these public laws. This document contains in chronological order all of the public laws enacted from 1981 through 1988. In some cases, only those portions of larger public laws which relate to international trade are excerpted and included.

I hope that this collection of public laws will serve as a valuable reference document for members, staff, other government officials and the general public. This publication supplements the document entitled, "Overview and Compilation of U.S. Trade Statutes", which the Committee first published in 1987, and which is scheduled to be reissued with modifications in the Spring of 1989.

Sincerely yours,

ROBERT J. LEONARD, Chief Counsel.

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