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United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act

Floor Speech

Date: Nov. 7, 2007
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Trade

UNITED STATES-PERU TRADE PROMOTION AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT -- (House of Representatives - November 07, 2007)

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Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to encourage my colleagues to support the Peru Trade Agreement. But first I want to thank Chairman Rangel for the leadership, for providing a very balanced approach to trade here in the United States. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The objectives of the Peru Trade Agreement are two. One is to provide a substantial access for U.S. exports, and number two is to promote political stability in the western hemisphere and to strengthen U.S. national security.

Let's look at the purpose of a free trade agreement. The purpose of a free trade agreement is to lower tariffs.

But let's look at the current situation we're in. Right now, currently, 98 percent of the U.S. imports from Peru enter into the United States duty free under the most favored nation tariff rates and various preferences programs, including the Andean Trade Preference Act, the Generalized System of Preferences, GSP, and the Caribbean Basis Initiative. It is a one-way street where those imports come into the United States.

Upon implementation of this Peru trade agreement, 80 percent of all U.S. goods entering Peru will be immediately duty free, and the remaining 20 percent of goods will have the tariffs removed over the next 10 years. So what we're doing by this trade agreement is to make it into fair trade, into a two-way street. It's a one-way street coming in the United States, and what we want to do is make it two ways so we can also have more exports and, therefore, make sure that we have a trade surplus with Peru.

The passage of this agreement will continue to remove barriers of trade of the Andean region and send a clear message to other nations that the establishment of democratic rights, the removal of restrictive tariffs, and the opening of markets to free trade will net positive results.

Peru is a market of almost 30 million people, and this presents opportunities for the U.S. businesses that they currently do not have at this time.

Although comprising 7.5 percent of the global, this will open up trade.

And I thank again, Mr. Speaker, the chairman for providing this legislation.

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