Glenn English: “Mr. Speaker, 10 years ago the United States made a commitment to the Andean region, and today we have an indispensable…”

“Mr. Speaker, 10 years ago the United States made a commitment to the Andean region, and today we have an indispensable opportunity to renew that commitment. Renewing and expanding the Andean Trade Preference Act will promote broad-based economic development in the region, as well as develop viable economic alternatives to coca cultivation and cocaine production. Beyond that, and very importantly, H.R. 3009 eliminates the U.S. tariffs on the import of tuna from Andean nations. The tariffs on tuna are among the highest and most anticonsumer anywhere in our system: 10 percent when packed in water, 35 percent when packed in oil. The irony is, the domestic industry that these tariffs allegedly protect has largely moved offshore. The only major U.S. production center remaining is in American Samoa where StarKist employs 2,700; and Thai Union, a foreign competitor, employs 2,500. It is worth noting that domestic production of tuna totals 30 million cases per year, which is only two-thirds of the U.S. demand, so we expect to import a significant amount of our tuna. Mr. Speaker, clearly no dumping of tuna in U.S. markets will occur as a result of this legislation and no operational capacity will be shifted out of American Samoa either.”