John Shaw: “I would hope if we cannot conclude a satisfactory agreement, free trade agreement with the countries that we are working…”

“I would hope if we cannot conclude a satisfactory agreement, free trade agreement with the countries that we are working with now, most notably Peru and Colombia, that we should have some short-term extension of the Andean preference for those countries. At this time we do not have one, an agreement with Ecuador. However, Ecuador is in a situation now of going into an election where they have one pro-American candidate, and one that is pro-Chavez. I think we should watch that very closely, and I think that we have an obligation to do everything we can for our friends and their economic growth. I will leave it right there. But I think that we need to, and I would hope that in the next Congress, which I regret that I will not be part of, to see these things through that we should continue our work to become, and continue to be free trade. I would like to also comment on the comments made by my friend from Ohio with regard to the low wages and low standard of living in Vietnam.”