Tina Smith: “today, May 18, 2004, is a historic day for U.S.-Australia bilateral relations. A landmark agreement on free trade was…”

“today, May 18, 2004, is a historic day for U.S.-Australia bilateral relations. A landmark agreement on free trade was reached today between the United States and Australia. I believe the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement is good for America. An FTA with the world's 15th largest economy will bring substantial benefits to my state of Oregon and to the whole U.S. economy. Australia is an industrialized nation with a high standard of living that is already a large market for U.S. exports valued at over $23 billion annually. The Australia FTA will boost U.S. manufacturing and create U.S. manufacturing jobs by reducing 99 percent of all Australian tariffs to zero. For the first time, the United States will have a significant advantage over European and Japanese competitors in the Australian market. U.S. goods and services will be able to compete fairly with other foreign exports in the lucrative Australian marketplace. This will be worth over $2 billion a year to U.S. manufacturers. U.S. agricultural exports to Australia will grow by $700 million, as tariffs on all agricultural goods are zeroed out under the FTA; this is money in the bank for U.S. farmers. Australia is an important market for my home State of Oregon. Australia is the 10th largest export market, and is particularly important for high quality manufactured goods.”