On the recordOctober 12, 2011
I thank the chairman for yielding time. I first want to thank Chairman Camp and Speaker Boehner for insisting that the White House submit the Panama trade agreement along with those of Colombia and Korea to ensure that we open all three markets equally to American farmers, manufacturers, service, and technology companies. But for your work, we would not be here today. This agreement is long overdue. As families know, the world has changed. It's not simply enough to buy American; we have to sell American all throughout the world. Panama is a dynamic new market for America with almost 9 percent a year in economic growth--far stronger than our own. Panama is important to our manufacturers in America, it's important to our farmers, it's especially important to our service companies because so much of Panama's economy matches up beautifully with America's economy. With the expansion of the Panama Canal, you're going to see increased cargo at our ports, increased jobs along our coasts, and lower prices in products in America as well. Critics will say, Panama is too small an economy. Why do we bother? In this dismal economy in America, every sale, every job counts. From Europe to Canada, to Thailand, to Singapore, and many more, our competitors negotiate sales agreements with Panama because they know those customers matter. Critics say, Panama is a tax haven. Why are we doing this agreement? But those simply aren't the facts.…
