Doris Matsui: “I really urge strong support of this African trade act. It will go a long ways in showing our relationship and our…”

“I really urge strong support of this African trade act. It will go a long ways in showing our relationship and our involvement with the African nations. What we really have here are 48 nations in the lower sub-Saharan area, 680 million people. The average per capita income of all the 48 nations is $500 per individual. Anybody in this country who thinks that we cannot compete with these 48 nations who think that, with their $500 per capita income, with our education levels, with our universities, with our research and development, with our infrastructure, I just cannot believe that anyone would think that those 48 nations are a threat to us. They are not a threat to us in textiles. They are not a threat to us in any way. What we would be doing with these nations, by joining them in an African trade agreement, is to bring these 48 nations into the cooperative trading worlds of the nations that we have with us. Essentially, what we are talking about is providing a democratic foundation for these countries. Right now, of the 48, 30 of them are democracies.”