On the recordDecember 12, 2018
As we approve this Asia Reassurance Initiative Act, it is also very important that we provide reassurance to Americans that our values are not being abandoned. With one deranged tweet after another, many people, both here and in Asia, view the United States as having lost its way. As approved by the Senate, this particular resolution responds very appropriately to the vacillation and confusion of the Trump administration's foreign policy, including its trade agenda. In today's important House amendment to section 302 of the bill, we commit not only to support continued engagement and friendship in the Asia-Pacific region, but to advance, through our trade negotiations, the values for which America has long been recognized as a beacon of hope to the world. That is a beacon that should leave no corner of this globe, including Asia, in the dark, and it must include human rights as a universal concept for all the people of the world. Our economic relations must be rooted in our shared values, our respect for human rights, and our adherence to the rule of law. It takes more than simply an opportunity to have more exports to justify a new agreement with a trading partner. A previous administration looked the other way on Malaysian human trafficking in pursuit of more commerce, and it found itself in this House short of votes. We must not make that mistake again.…
