Max Baucus: “Today, the Senate has taken an important step in our relationship with Latin America. Following House action last night…”

“Today, the Senate has taken an important step in our relationship with Latin America. Following House action last night, the Senate unanimously approved an 8-month extension of the Andean Trade Preference Act, ATPA. Our action today prevents these key trade preferences from expiring abruptly this weekend. More importantly, it underscores the value that United States places on strong economic engagement with our partners in the Andean region. The Andean Trade Preference Act provides duty-free access to certain products from Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. These preferences ensure that hundreds of thousands of workers in these countries can find legal and meaningful employment in their own countries--workers who might otherwise find jobs in coca fields or in other illicit industries. By doing so, the Andean trade preferences enable the United States to continue to promote economic and political stability in a key region of Latin America. ATPA and other preference programs are not a one-way street. I hear repeatedly from American businesses and consumers how these preference programs benefit the United States. Specifically, ATPA provides numerous U.S. companies with a source of high-quality, duty-free inputs for their products. American companies then pass these benefits on to American consumers in the form of lower costs and greater product diversity.”