United States-Morocco Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
SENATE
UNITED STATES-MOROCCO FREE TRADE AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished assistant minority leader for his approval of going ahead on this issue. I thank every Senator on the other side because any Senator on the other side or, for that matter, this side can object to any legislation coming up. Trade legislation is a little more controversial than it used to be. We have had great cooperation from the Democrats in the bipartisan manner it takes to get business done in the Senate on three very important trade agreements, including now this one, the United States-Morocco Free Trade Agreement. Last week we did the United States-Australia Free Trade Agreement, and prior to that the extension and reauthorization of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which was passed just prior to our previous recess for the Fourth of July.

So often in this body the antagonism gets highlighted between Republican and Democrats. I wish to thank all the minority Members for allowing me to move ahead with this legislation.

Obviously, since I presented this legislation, I support this bill, S. 2677. It is legislation that implements the United States-Morocco Free Trade Agreement. I happen to believe this agreement marks a solid win for America, and when it comes to trade legislation, when we talk about a solid win, that is in economic terms and that creates jobs in America because America produces, in most instances, more than we can consume, particularly in agriculture but in other areas as well.

The United States is 5 percent of the world's population. So if anybody thinks we should not accept goods from overseas and then other countries not let us export, understand that 5 percent of the people of this world, the Americans, when we produce much more than we consume-and in agriculture that is 40 percent-what they would be saying is that we ought to shut down part of productive America. Obviously, if we shut down part of productive America, we lose jobs. So if we are going to keep enhancing our economy, to increase our standard of living-and that is related to increased productivity-then, obviously, we have to look to the 95 percent of the people of the world who are outside the United States as a market.

Other countries, obviously, look to the world for a market. So it is a very competitive market. But the extent to which we reduce trade barriers-and this Morocco agreement is one example of reducing barriers to trade-then we let the marketplace make a decision on where goods go, what goods cost, and the quality of goods. For the most part, consumers of those respective countries, including America, make a determination as to what they want to pay and the quality of product they want. But the marketplace is going to be making that decision.

When we have barriers to trade that are set up by governments, then political leaders are making those decisions. Or if it is not political leaders, it is government employees making those decisions. Quite frankly, when government makes decisions, you do not reap the benefits of the efficiency of the marketplace and the efficiency of productivity of the respective workers of the respective countries that you do if the marketplace is making those decisions.

Willing buyer, willing seller, setting price, setting quality, setting time of transaction is better than 535 Members of Congress making that decision. All one has to do is look at Russia today. It is much more productive than it was when bureaucrats in Moscow were deciding how many acres of wheat to plant and when to combine those acres, the mature crop. A third of it was left in the field because when 5 o'clock came, they went home. When the American farmer goes out to harvest crops, he stays there until he gets it done, particularly something that is time sensitive, such as the maturing crop of wheat or soybeans. But not the Russian farmer under the Soviet system of command and control. Russia was not exporting grain. Today, Russia is exporting grain. We have to go back to the new economic program of the late 1920s for that to have happened, or you have to go back to the days of the czar for that to have happened in Russia.

So the marketplace is the best place to make these decisions, and agreements leveling the playing field, such as this Morocco agreement, are examples of the United States looking to the rest of the world to sell the surplus we manufacture, the surplus we produce, the excess-if you do not want to call it surplus, it is excess-of what we can consume here.

When this agreement is implemented, more than 95 percent of bilateral trade will become duty free immediately. According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, this is the best market access package of any U.S. free-trade agreement with a developing country. This will bring important new opportunities for America's manufacturing sector. The agreement will also benefit our service providers with new market opportunities, particularly in key sectors such as engineering, telecommunications, banking, and insurance. U.S. intellectual property rights owners will obtain the benefits of stronger protection for their trademarks, for their copyrights, and for their patents.

Any agreement will lead to a more open and transparent trading regime with the implementation of the new transparency procedures for customs administration, new commitments to combat bribery, and strong protections for U.S. investors in the region.

Perhaps most importantly for my home State of Iowa, the agreement brings substantial benefits to the U.S. agricultural community. I note firstly that the agreement is comprehensive. No sector is excluded. This is important for the future of our U.S. agriculture. The fact is, when we take a sector off the table during negotiations, our trading partners are bound to do the same. All too often the sector they want excluded is one of our most competitive agricultural products. That means lost sales for America's family farmers.

It is very important that we send a strong message to our future trading partners that our country, the United States of America, remains committed to negotiating broad and very comprehensive free-trade agreements. Passage of this agreement moves that ball closer to the goalpost and reaffirms our commitment to negotiating and not being on the sideline.

Second, this agreement is sure to advance our agricultural exports in an important and growing region of the market. The recent trend of Argentine and Brazilian corn displacing American corn in the Moroccan market will end. In fact, the International Trade Commission predicts that absent the current tariff, United States corn producers will supply nearly all of Morocco's corn imports in the coming years.

The International Trade Commission also estimates that United States exports of soybean meal to Morocco will likely increase substantially under this agreement. With Morocco presently imposing tariffs as high as, believe this, 275 percent on the import of United States beef, the United States is in effect literally shut out of the Moroccan beef market. This will change under this agreement, with the United States gaining new access for our beef going into Morocco.

United States exporters are currently at a competitive disadvantage when they try to sell wheat to Morocco. The fact is that competitors of the United States can sell their wheat cheaper. This agreement will change that. This agreement will level the playing field for America's wheat farmers. It is also going to do it for our beef ranchers.

An independent study by the American Farm Bureau Federation found that under this agreement-now, this is the American Farm Bureau-the United States agricultural trade surplus with Morocco could reach $382 million by 2015 with Moroccan agricultural exports rising by only $25 million. Thus, under this agreement, U.S. agriculture would see roughly a 10-to-1 gain. Those figures speak louder than words.

I have received testimony and letters in support of this agreement from across America's agricultural sector. I concentrate on what we have heard from one Iowa farmer, but also a person who is very much a leader in the Iowa Soybean Association, Ron Heck from Perry, IA. He testified before the Finance Committee, which I chair, that the agreement will not only benefit soybean farmers directly in increased exports to the country of Morocco but also indirectly as they sell their grain to America's beef and poultry farmers who will in turn export these products of beef and poultry to Morocco.

When one sells meat, one sells a value-added agricultural product that has created more jobs in America. It is better to sell the beef and the poultry, it brings more wealth to America than sending our raw grain and our raw soybeans overseas.

We have the National Corn Growers Association, the International Dairy Food Association, the National Milk Producers Federation, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the National Association of Wheat Growers, the National Chicken Council, the Corn Refiners, and the USA Rice Federation, to name a few, that have all written to me in favor of this agreement.

The Morocco free trade agreement also contains a preference clause that grants the United States market access provisions that will be at least as good as those granted by Morocco to other countries in any future free trade agreement they may enter into.

Finally, the agreement enabled us to tackle tough sanitary and phytosanitary issues which had been acting as a bar to many of our agricultural exports.

In my mind, the economic benefits are enough for any Senator to support this agreement. I think my colleagues ought to take into consideration other less tangible reasons to cast their vote as yea.

Morocco is a longstanding friend and ally of the United States. In fact, Morocco was the first country to extend diplomatic relations to the United States following our independence. Our two nations first signed a treaty of peace and friendship in 1786, making this the oldest unbroken treaty in the history of the United States foreign relations.

Today, Morocco is a valuable ally in the war against terrorism, working with our country to bring peace and stability throughout the Middle East. In short, Morocco has been and still remains a valued friend of our country. I am pleased we will be able to strengthen our friendship with the passage of this free trade agreement.

The Morocco free trade agreement marks our third free trade agreement in the Middle East. Although we enjoy strong free trade agreements with Israel and Jordan, the Congress may soon have an opportunity to consider a fourth free trade agreement with Bahrain, another important Middle Eastern country and one that is very helpful to us in a military way.

While each free trade agreement is valued in and of itself, these free trade agreements are also steppingstones toward President Bush's broader vision of a Middle East free trade agreement by the year 2013. Today, far too many people in the Middle East are plagued by poverty and lack of education and opportunity. While trade itself will not alleviate every ill, it is a vital tool of development which has been lacking for far too long in that important region of the world. I am confident the passage of this free trade agreement, along with our continued efforts to build a Middle East free trade agreement, can help change that by ushering in a new era of hope and prosperity in that critical part of the world.

I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.