Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 112 Part 4.djvu/621

 PUBLIC LAW 105-277—OCT. 21, 1998 112 STAT. 2681-592 to export steel to the countries that are experiencing an economic crisis. (3) United States impori;s of finished steel mill products from Asian steel-producing countries, such as the People's Republic of China, Japan, Korea, India, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia, increased by 79 percent in the first 5 months of 1998. (4) Year-to-date imports of steel from Russia now exceed the record import levels of 1997, and steel imports from Russia and the Ukraine now approach 2,500,000 net tons. (5) Foreign government trade restrictions and private restraints of trade distort international trade and investment patterns and result in burdens on United States commerce, including absorption of a disproportionate share of steel diverted from other countries. (6) The European Union, for example, despite also being a major economy, in 1997 imported only one-tenth as much finished steel products from Asian steel-producing countries as the United States did and has restricted imports of steel from the independent states of the former Soviet Union and Russia. (7) The United States is simultaneously facing a substantial increase in steel imports from the independent states of the former Soviet Union and Russia, caused in part by the closure of Asian markets to steel imports. (8) There is a well recognized need for improvement in the enforcement of the United States trade laws to provide an effective response to situations of such increased imports, (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—Congress calls upon the President to— (1) pursue enhanced enforcement of the United States trade laws with respect to the increase in steel imports into the United States, using all remedies available under United States laws including imposition of offsetting duties, quantitative restrictions, and other appropriate remedial measures; (2) pursue with all methods at the President's disposal to achieve a more equitable sharing of the burden of accepting imports of finished steel products from Asia and the independent states of the former Soviet Union; (3) establish a task force within the executive branch that has responsibility for closely monitoring imports of steel into the United States; and (4) report to Congress not later than Jginuary 5, 1999, with a comprehensive plan for responding to the increase in steel imports, including ways of limiting the deleterious effects on employment, prices, and investment in the United States steel industry. SEC. 112. INCLUSION OF SPIRIT MOUND, SOUTH DAKOTA, ON THE LEWIS AND CLARK TRAIL, (a) ACQUISITION. —The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to acquire on a willing seller basis, at a cost of not to exceed $600,000, the tract of land known as "Spirit Mound", located on South Dakota Highway 19 near Vermilion, South Dakota. (b) INCLUSION ON THE LEWIS AND CLARK TRAIL. — The tract described in subsection (a) shall be administered as part of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.

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