Hearing Of The Senate Committee On Finance - The 2010 Trade Agenda

Statement

This is an important opportunity for the Committee to engage Ambassador Kirk in a detailed follow-
up to the President's recently-released trade policy agenda for 2010. I've looked at the trade policy
agenda, and I'm disappointed by some of the gaps I see in the level of detail provided by the
President.
For example, the trade agenda states that our government "will continue to engage with the
Governments of Panama, Colombia, and Korea" as the Administration further refines its analysis of
outstanding issues. But it doesn't indicate where we are on that engagement, or when future
meetings are planned with the governments of Colombia and South Korea to iron out resolutions to
the Administration's concerns.
It's been almost three years since each of our pending trade agreements was modified to reflect what
is commonly known as the "May 10th" agreement between congressional Democrats and the Bush
Administration. This delay in implementation hurts U.S. credibility around the world, not just
economically, but geopolitically as well. On top of that, it creates some confusion with respect to
the Administration's own trade initiatives. The Administration has articulated forcefully the
potential benefits of a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. And, I agree with the
Administration on that.
But there is some disconnect between this enthusiasm for negotiating a Trans-Pacific Partnership
agreement, and the apparent lack of urgency to resolve the outstanding issues cited by the
Administration as cause for delay in implementing our pending trade agreements. There may well
be political reasons for this lack of urgency. But that doesn't justify delay as good policy -- quite
the opposite.
Though some may dismiss this focus on our pending trade agreements, the world won't wait for us if we sit on the sidelines. South Korea has already concluded a trade agreement with the European Union, and Colombia has reportedly just done the same. Such erosion to global U.S. competitiveness concerns me. We were left on the sidelines once before -- in the latter 1990s -- and I don't want to
see us repeat that experience. The trade agenda also reiterates the President's goal of doubling U.S.
exports in the next five years, and touts the President's National Export Initiative as a means of
achieving that.

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