Hearing of the House Small Business Committee - Impact of Pending Free Trade Agreements on U.S. Small Business Panel I

Interview

Hearing of the House Small Business Committee - Impact of Pending Free Trade Agreements on U.S. Small Business Panel I

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

REP. YVETTE CLARKE (D-NY): Thank you very much. To Madame Chair, to Ranking Member Chabot, this certainly is a very timely issue for a new member here. I'm just sort of wrapping my brain around what is in the best interest of our trade which is a necessity. It's something we've been doing since the establishment of this nation. It's really about how we can do that and not adversely impact on the reputation we have as a nation, one, and two, what happens to communities around this nation as we pursue globalization in a very proactive way.

Chairwoman Velazquez asked a question that I just wanted to sort of revisit with you. And what she was essentially asking was, what is the level of collaboration that the USTR has with the Customs and Border Protection to produce a seamless process for enforcement against trade breeches? Could you clarify USTR's efforts to establish such protocols, whether they've been established or not?

MR. VERONEAU: Certainly. I mean, we collaborate regularly. You know, we need the Customs in so many ways, on technical ways. Let me give you one example where let's take Section 337 is legal authority to block imports that infringe upon U.S. patents. That is, USTR has a role in that. The ITC has a role in that. But at the end of the day, it's the customs enforcement authorities that give effect to an order to block an import. So that is just one example of many where we obviously rely upon the Customs authorities to enforce these agreements. We are not an enforcement agency in that sense.

REP. CLARKE: Right.

MR. VERONEAU: I mean, we enforce WTO laws. We are the litigators. We're the ones who bring those cases. But at the ports, USTR has no presence.

REP. CLARKE: I recognize that. But when you're looking for basically the green light from representatives of people of this nation, and you know how critical it is to present a very strong and focused I guess front, for lack of a better term, it would seem to me that there would be a much more proactive role that the USTR would play and would demonstrate so that even dealing with Section 337 and the breech of patents of imports. I come from New York. It's very evident there that there have been breeches. And, you know, at some point, we're going to have to account for that. And I think we've reached that point in this nation where, you know, folks really want to know do we have strong protocols in place that make it possible for U.S. businesses to benefit as much as those who are importing to our nation through trade agreements are benefiting? China, we know, is like the ultimate example right now. So I just want to leave that with you, because I think that that is really important. It may take moving out of the realm that we currently operate in in order to achieve that goal.

I also just learned that the Peruvian President, Alan Garcia, is planning or broadening the number of businesses that would qualify as small business enterprises, which meant -- many say can offer workers in that country less pay, fewer vacation days than workers in larger firms. How does the USTR plan to address this labor rights dilemma?

MR. VERONEAU: I'm not familiar, Congresswoman, with the example you just gave. But I would say that the trade agreement that you will soon have an opportunity to consider has the strongest labor provisions of any trade agreement ever considered. And the United States is clearly in the forefront of having trade agreements with strong labor provisions. We're the only ones, frankly, that have provisions of this nature. So I would say that your colleague, Chairman Levin, as you know, feels very strongly about the intersection of labor and trade.

And he has been satisfied by -- through his direct discussions with President Garcia and his administration about the status of Peruvian labor law and their plans for enforcement. So I'm pleased to follow up on the specific concern that you raise, but there's been a tremendous amount of dialogue between Chairman Levin and approving officials and I think to his satisfaction -- Chairman Levin's satisfaction, he's quite happy with the status of the Peruvian labor law and its enforcement plan.

REP. CLARKE: Thank you, Mr. Ambassador.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source