Xavier Becerra: “President Reagan said it best: Trust, but verify. On CAFTA, that is all we are asking. I think most of us believe that…”

“President Reagan said it best: Trust, but verify. On CAFTA, that is all we are asking. I think most of us believe that the Central American governments want to prove that they can play by the rules in the international marketplace, but before we agree to open up America's markets, and that means America's jobs, to fierce competition, we must know that the rules will be followed and enforced. Trust, but verify. An agreement that merely says enforce your own existing laws fails President Reagan's test. The truth is if the American public knew that we were about to open up America's markets to further international competition based solely on the good faith of our competitors, they would run us out of Washington. Just as no consumer today would buy or sell a house on a handshake, neither should we open our markets with one. When we shook hands with China and allowed them to receive favored- trading status with America, did we expect that they would respond by pirating America's goods or by paying industrial wages of 60 cents an hour? That is the kind of cutthroat competition that CAFTA will permit, but this time that kind of distorted competition will live and breathe in our neighboring Central American countries, not 6,000 miles away. Will the Central America countries feel the pressure to trade under America's standards or China's standards? Mr. Speaker, no one wins in a race to the bottom.…”