Better jobs for Americans. Growing exports. A stronger economy. A full 40 percent of our economic growth in the last year has been led by exports. With these results it is obvious we should seize every chance we have to increase America’s export opportunities. Fortunately, Congress has an unprecedented chance to do just that by approving free trade agreements (FTAs) with Peru, Colombia, Panama and South Korea.
These FTAs will create new export opportunities for farmers, ranchers, manufacturers and service providers from Pennsylvania and around the country and help sustain our country’s export-fueled growth. Last year, exports grew 12.7 percent to a record $1.4 trillion. Pennsylvania is already riding the crest of that growth with export shipments of merchandise totaling $26 billion in 2006—up a tremendous 60 percent from 2003. And 2006 showed big gains for the Port of Philadelphia with more than five million metric tons of cargo handled last year, 20 percent more than 2005. The best way to keep this trend going is to open new markets. We do that by enacting and implementing free trade agreements.
These FTAs simply make sense. Currently, more than 90 percent of the goods imported from Peru, Colombia and Panama come here duty-free under trade preference programs Congress passed to help developing countries. These FTAs will make the bulk of our exports to these countries also duty-free. This is great news for U.S. exporters who would have a chance to compete on a level playing field in three growing countries with a combined market of 78 million consumers. Think about it: Pennsylvania exporters are facing discriminating taxes and losing out. We finally have a chance to compete fairly and boost Pennsylvania exports Importantly, these agreements will also strengthen the rule of law, and help democratic governance take hold. Nowhere is this more evident than in Colombia, one of our staunchest allies in the Western Hemisphere. Few countries have paid a higher price because of terrorism than Colombia, and few have shown as much bravery standing up to guerillas and narcotics traffickers as Colombians. The streets of Medellin have been transformed from a drug lord’s paradise to a community where families and children can thrive.
Under a democratically elected president, Colombia has experienced real change. Between 2002 and 2006, violent crime and terrorism dropped by nearly half; violence against labor leaders decreased about 70 percent; and between 2000 and last year, 25 percent of Colombians who were in poverty were lifted out. To deny Colombia this trade agreement would be a huge foreign policy blunder.
We must keep in mind that our democratic ideals of liberty and freedom aren’t the only system being promoted in the world today. While we seek empowerment of the individual, others seek to suppress people, ideas and debate. While we encourage the free flow of investment and business, others seek to stifle free enterprise.
Like Colombia, South Korea borders a country led by a vision far different from our own. Korea, a nation of 48 million increasingly prosperous consumers, will at last be as open to the U.S goods and services as this nation has been to Korean goods and services. A FTA with Korea removes virtually all of their developing economy protections. Within the first three years after implementation, 95 percent of consumer and industrial products will become duty-free and the remaining tariffs will be eliminated within 10 years.
This agreement allows us to modernize our longstanding alliance, and strengthen our engagement with a key ally in a strategically-important part of the world.
The four FTAs will bring enhanced access for Pennsylvania’s farmers, workers and businesses and increase trade through Philadelphia’s port. Pennsylvania exported nearly $800 million to these four countries last year, up nearly 90 percent since 2003. Through trade we’ll continue to build prosperity not just for Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, but for the nation.
This Administration wants to work with Congressional leaders on a bipartisan basis to find a way forward on free trade. While we’re pleased Congress has taken up the Peru FTA, it’s critical all four are approved.
These agreements are simply in our country’s best security and economic interest, and for that, President Bush and his Administration will be relentless advocates. Now is the time to act, and now is the time for voices of those who care about American exports and American competitiveness to be heard.
Please visit TradeAgreements.gov for regularly updated information on pending free trade agreements.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
