Chuck Grassley: “Opportunity is the greatest of human rights anywhere in the world. Trade is all about opportunity, so this whole bill is…”

“Opportunity is the greatest of human rights anywhere in the world. Trade is all about opportunity, so this whole bill is all about human rights. This amendment upsets a carefully crafted bipartisan compromise dealing with these complex relationships between international trade, workers' rights, and the environment, and it does so by undermining the fundamental purpose and proven effectiveness of our trade promotion authority. This amendment offers vague new standards stating that the countries should strive to protect 'internationally recognized civil, political, and human rights,' without even defining those rights. It sets our negotiators up for failure and jeopardizes this bill. If we really want to promote democracy and human rights abroad, then we should all oppose this amendment and pass the bill because history shows that time and again open markets help foster a more open political system and the human rights that go with it. Mexico is an example. There is Taiwan and South Korea, all sorts of examples of human rights being better today than they were 50 years ago, all because of more open markets and international trade.”