Cliff Stearns: “I rise in support of the Singapore Free Trade Agreement. As many of my colleagues know, I support free trade. I believe…”

“I rise in support of the Singapore Free Trade Agreement. As many of my colleagues know, I support free trade. I believe it must be fair trade. I voted in the past for some of these agreements, but this one I think is very good with Singapore and Chile. The free trade agreements under consideration today represent a significant step towards the goal of open and nondiscriminatory international markets for services and e-commerce. The agreements contain commitments from both Singapore and Chile for substantial market access across nearly all of their service sector including banking, insurance, telecommunication, computer and related services, energy, direct selling, tourism, professional services, and even express delivery services. This is a significant departure from trade agreements in the past, as all our service sectors are open and the few exceptions are memorialized in what is called a ``negative list.'' Moreover, the market access and nondiscrimination commitment are bolstered by strong and detailed regulatory transparency requirements, a first in trade agreements. Regulatory transparency is very important to many service industries as they are subject to government regulation. Lack of such transparency and regulatory uncertainty are nontariff barriers that impede trade and services. The Chile and Singapore agreements, in my mind, provide for commitments that have been missing in past agreements.”