Jim Costa: “Today, I rise to encourage our leadership to expand our trade opportunities and to grow our economy by calling up and…”

“Today, I rise to encourage our leadership to expand our trade opportunities and to grow our economy by calling up and passing our pending free trade agreements. Just this week, President Obama reaffirmed his commitment to passing the Korea Free Trade Agreement. I applaud the President for this effort. Korea, Colombia and Panama hold great economic potential for our country, especially for agricultural regions, such as the region I represent in the San Joaquin Valley. Still, while these trade agreements languish, our farmers continue to face high tariffs in these countries--some as high as 80 percent. Worse yet, many of our international competitors in the European Union and in Canada are expanding market opportunities by signing their own trade agreements and by seizing markets that could and should belong to U.S. agriculture. Madam Speaker, we are living in a global economy. If we are truly committed to economic recovery in the United States, now is the time to promote U.S. products abroad.”