Political Quotes

“I join my friend and colleague from Tennessee who, in addition to being on the Foreign Relations Committee, has background in the private sector as an economic development official for the State of Tennessee and also as a diplomat in his service as Ambassador to Japan. The issue that we are talking about is one about the economy and the economic relations between the United States and Mexico; but also, it is about diplomacy. We are here to speak about the Mexican Government's unfair targeting of this one business, Vulcan Materials Company, but they can stand as an example for many others. Vulcan is headquartered in Alabama, but they employ more than 1,000 people in the Commonwealth of Virginia at more than 70 facilities, and they have been legally operating this construction material facility and port in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico for more than 30 years. The Mexican Government in recent years, under the direction of the President of Mexico, has taken a set of actions, to include the recent filing of a regulatory notice that they intend to take over Vulcan's property in the Yucatan. This is a matter about trade; but to be sure, it is also a matter about the rule of law. Last December, we celebrated the bicentennial of diplomatic relations between the United States and Mexico. Our two countries share a 2,000- mile border, extensive trade, security, and economic relations. The relationship, as my colleague shared, is a consequential one.…”