---
kind: "section"
citation: "19 U.S.C. § 3101"
title: "19"
title_heading: "Customs Duties"
number: "3101"
heading: "Findings and purposes"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/19/3101"
units:
  - "Chapter 19 — Telecommunications Trade"
---

# §3101. Findings and purposes

- (a) **Findings—** The Congress finds that—
  - (1) rapid growth in the world market for [telecommunications products](/usc/19/3102.md?p=2) and [services](/usc/19/2576b.md?p=4) is likely to continue for several decades;
  - (2) the [United States](/usc/19/1683.md?p=9) can improve prospects for—
    - (A) the growth of—
      - (i) [United States](/usc/19/1683.md?p=9) exports of [telecommunications products](/usc/19/3102.md?p=2) and [services](/usc/19/2576b.md?p=4), and
      - (ii) export-related employment and consumer [services](/usc/19/2576b.md?p=4) in the [United States](/usc/19/1683.md?p=9), and
    - (B) the continuance of the technological leadership of the [United States](/usc/19/1683.md?p=9),

    by undertaking a program to achieve an open world market for trade in [telecommunications products](/usc/19/3102.md?p=2), [services](/usc/19/2576b.md?p=4), and investment;

  - (3) most foreign markets for [telecommunications products](/usc/19/3102.md?p=2), [services](/usc/19/2576b.md?p=4), and investment are characterized by extensive government intervention (including restrictive import practices and discriminatory procurement practices) which adversely affect [United States](/usc/19/1683.md?p=9) exports of [telecommunications products](/usc/19/3102.md?p=2) and [services](/usc/19/2576b.md?p=4) and [United States](/usc/19/1683.md?p=9) investment in telecommunications;
  - (4) the open nature of the [United States](/usc/19/1683.md?p=9) telecommunications market, accruing from the liberalization and restructuring of such market, has contributed, and will continue to contribute, to an increase in imports of [telecommunications products](/usc/19/3102.md?p=2) and a growing imbalance in competitive opportunities for trade in telecommunications;
  - (5) unless this imbalance is corrected through the achievement of mutually advantageous market opportunities for trade in [telecommunications products](/usc/19/3102.md?p=2) and [services](/usc/19/2576b.md?p=4) between the [United States](/usc/19/1683.md?p=9) and foreign [countries](/usc/19/1677.md?p=3), the [United States](/usc/19/1683.md?p=9) should avoid granting continued open access to the [telecommunications products](/usc/19/3102.md?p=2) and [services](/usc/19/2576b.md?p=4) of such foreign [countries](/usc/19/1677.md?p=3) in the [United States](/usc/19/1683.md?p=9) market; and
  - (6) the unique business conditions in the worldwide market for [telecommunications products](/usc/19/3102.md?p=2) and [services](/usc/19/2576b.md?p=4) caused by the combination of deregulation and divestiture in the [United States](/usc/19/1683.md?p=9), which represents a unilateral liberalization of [United States](/usc/19/1683.md?p=9) trade with the rest of the world, and continuing government intervention in the domestic [industries](/usc/19/1677.md?p=4-A) of many other [countries](/usc/19/1677.md?p=3) create a need to make an exception in the case of [telecommunications products](/usc/19/3102.md?p=2) and [services](/usc/19/2576b.md?p=4) that should not necessarily be a precedent for legislating specific sectoral priorities in combating the closed markets or unfair foreign trade practices of other [countries](/usc/19/1677.md?p=3).
- (b) **Purposes—** The purposes of this chapter are—
  - (1) to foster the economic and technological growth of, and employment in, the [United States](/usc/19/1683.md?p=9) telecommunications [industry](/usc/19/1677.md?p=4-A);
  - (2) to secure a high quality telecommunications network for the benefit of the people of the [United States](/usc/19/1683.md?p=9);
  - (3) to develop an international consensus in favor of open trade and competition in [telecommunications products](/usc/19/3102.md?p=2) and [services](/usc/19/2576b.md?p=4);
  - (4) to ensure that [countries](/usc/19/1677.md?p=3) which have made commitments to open telecommunications trade fully abide by those commitments; and
  - (5) to achieve a more open world trading system for [telecommunications products](/usc/19/3102.md?p=2) and [services](/usc/19/2576b.md?p=4) through negotiation and provision of mutually advantageous market opportunities for [United States](/usc/19/1683.md?p=9) telecommunications exporters and their subsidiaries in those markets in which barriers exist to free international trade.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 100–418, title I, § 1372, Aug. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 1216.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Short Title

Pub. L. 100–418, title I, § 1371, Aug. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 1216, provided that: “This part [part 4 (§§ 1371–1382) of subtitle C of title I of Pub. L. 100–418, enacting this chapter] may be cited as the ‘Telecommunications Trade Act of 1988’.”