Political Quotes

“it has struck me as I have listened to the debate here that there are many myths propagated about CAFTA, the proposed free trade agreement between the Dominican Republic, Central American nations and the United States. One is that we are somehow dropping all of our tariffs across the board. With very few exceptions, the products which CAFTA countries export to the United States have actually entered duty-free for 20 years. By contrast, products that the U.S. has exported to CAFTA countries face steep tariffs. Currently the CAFTA countries apply an average tariff on U.S. industrial goods ranging from 4.1 percent in Nicaragua to 7.8 percent in the Dominican Republic. What we are doing here is creating a two-way street for trade between the United States and CAFTA countries. This is a big trade issue for Pennsylvania because merchandise exports to CAFTA countries totaled $353 million from Pennsylvania in 2004, the ninth largest among the 50 States. And Pennsylvania's exports to the CAFTA region have grown 21 percent between 2000 and 2004. I sympathize with the concerns that have been raised by CAFTA critics, but if we look at the details I think this is an agreement that we can afford to pass. ____________________”