Dear Member of Congress:

The US forest products industry is at a crossroads with respect to its ability to compete domestically and internationally.

The industry currently faces unprecedented competitive challenges from developing countries with cheaper fiber resources and lower labor costs, as well as from traditional European suppliers. The best way for the U.S. forest products industry to remain competitive is to ensure that we have a level playing field in markets worldwide. That is not the case today. U.S. tariffs on paper and wood products have been practically eliminated while our industry faces excessively high tariffs in the markets of many of our foreign competitors.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) trade negotiations in Seattle (Nov. 30-Dec. 3) provide a critical opportunity to eliminate high paper and wood tariffs in export markets and keep our industry competitive in the future. One of the main items on the agenda for the Seattle meetings will be the Accelerated Tariff Liberalization (ATL) initiative. The ATL initiative calls for the reduction or elimination of tariffs in eight priority sectors, including forest products.

We urge Congress to support the Administration's negotiating efforts and make sure that an ATL agreement is reached in Seattle. For the forest products industry, unless we get an agreement that provides for tariff cuts starting in the year 2000, we will see more lost ground to imports and more lost jobs here in the U.S.

We have seen the global trade balance decline since the conclusion of the Uruguay Round. In 1994, U.S. imports of forest products exceeded exports by $2.9 billion; in 1998, the trade deficit in the forest products sector more than tripled to $9.4 billion. And in 1998, total paper products industry employment declined by 17,800 jobs, or 2.6%.

Representatives of the U.S. forest products industry will be in Seattle and will be happy to assist those of you and your staff who will be attending the WTO meetings.

This is a critical time and an important opportunity for this U.S. industry to remain competitive. Please support our U.S. negotiators and urge them to make the achievement of tariff reductions for forest products a priority item for the U.S. in Seattle.

With best personal regards, I remain,

Sincerely yours,

W. Henson Moore
President and CEO
American Forest & Paper Association