Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC-CENTRAL AMERICA-UNITED STATES FREE TRADE AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT -- (Extensions of Remarks - July 29, 2005)

SPEECH OF
HON. DENNIS A. CARDOZA
OF CALIFORNIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2005

Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, I strongly oppose CAFTA, because I believe it is a bad deal for rural and agricultural communities like those in my 18th district of California.

There is no indication that U.S. agriculture will benefit from a poorly negotiated deal that--without adequate safeguards--opens trade with a region that has little capacity to purchase our goods.

This administration's lax enforcement of trade agreements makes CAFTA's prospects even bleaker.

Currently, our agricultural trade deficit with the six countries covered by CAFTA totals 765 million dollars.

If we assume that the projections for CAFTA are as far off the mark as the projected gains turned out to be for NAFTA, this deficit is likely to grow even higher.

By passing this deeply flawed agreement, we would do two things: Reward these Central American countries for their poor records on labor rights--and add to our ballooning agricultural trade deficit with that region.

Like my Democratic colleagues, I believe in fair trade, not flawed trade.

I believe in trade deals that protect American farmers and ranchers and raise living standards in our partner countries. CAFTA fails to meet these basic standards, and I urge my colleagues to oppose it.

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