Tina Smith: “more than 20 years ago President Reagan made a commitment to help the countries of Central America by providing them…”

“more than 20 years ago President Reagan made a commitment to help the countries of Central America by providing them with unilateral access to the U.S. market. Through preference programs such as the Generalized System of Preference, GSP, and the Caribbean Basin Initiative, Congress and various administrations have sought to help our southern neighbors by promoting development and encouraging the building of democratic societies. The Caribbean Basin Initiative has provided critical economic aid to the fledgling democracies of Central America, and in the past 20 years, chaos has been replaced by commerce. Since 1985, exports from the region to the United States have quadrupled; and today, the agreement that we are taking up seeks to provide reciprocal access for our domestic producers. Today, 80 percent of goods and services and 99 percent of agricultural products from the CAFTA-DR countries already enter the U.S. duty free. In contrast, our domestic producers face steep tariffs--which are essentially foreign taxes--into the region. Under CAFTA-DR, many of those tariffs would go to zero. It is estimated that if approved, CAFTA-DR would result in approximately $1 billion in annual savings on tariffs for U.S. producers. Under CAFTA-DR, Oregon apple and pear growers, who currently face tariffs as high as 25 percent into the region, will benefit from immediate duty elimination on fresh apples and pears.…”