United States-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act

UNITED STATES-BAHRAIN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT -- (House of Representatives - December 07, 2005)

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Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today in support of the U.S.-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement. This agreement reflects a bipartisan effort to make a deal that is worthy of broad support both in terms of the process used and the substance of the agreement.

I want to thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw) for his help in this agreement. I want to thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Ryan) for his persistence in keeping us focused on getting this agreement completed this year. I want to thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) for his help with the USTR and with the administration in pointing out the importance of making some additional changes. I thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin) for his contributions in regards to this bill.

As you know, Mr. Speaker, Congress uses an expedited process when it considers trade agreements. As a result, Congress gives up a lot of its prerogatives, and it is absolutely critical that in giving up these prerogatives that the administration consult and work very closely with the Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle in negotiating, entering into, and submitting to Congress the implementing legislation.

Well, in regards to the U.S.-Bahrainian agreement, much of the work was done prior to the beginning of this year; and, quite frankly, there was not as close a relationship with Congress as I wanted to see. There were things that were not complete then when the agreement itself had been finished. But thanks to Ambassador Portman, thanks to the help from the majority side, we were able to continue consultation with Congress on both sides of the aisle prior to the submission of the implementing legislation.

As a result, we now have an agreement that incorporates the important provisions that deal with worker rights as well as dealing with the issue of the boycott against Israel; and I want to compliment the process and the manner in which we have been able to complete this agreement.

On substance, the U.S.-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement is a good agreement for several reasons. First, the agreement provides substantial market access for U.S. service providers, immediate duty-free treatment for all currently traded consumer and industrial products, and duty-free treatment of nearly all U.S. agricultural exports.

This is a good model for other agreements in the region and around the world.

Second, Bahrain has taken truly historic steps by disavowing all aspects of the Arab League boycott against Israel. Not only the primary, but the secondary and tertiary boycotts. This should be the template that we use in all negotiations and free trade agreements in that region. That is exactly what the United States should be demanding.

The third reason why this is a good agreement is that Bahrain has adopted major reforms in its labor code and is committed to making further reforms. In 2002 Bahrain enacted legislation that for the first time gave workers in Bahrain the right to belong to trade unions and to strike.

Last month in an exchange of letters with the United States Government, the government of Bahrain made several additional commitments that would ensure its laws are in full compliance with basic international standards.

Mr. Speaker, let me just point out that the process we use is that we identified certain weaknesses in the operation of the Bahrainian reform laws as it related to workers' rights. Bahrain now is committed by letter and interpretation to comply fully with the ILO standards in four of those areas. There are two additional areas that really require consultation with the union because they only have a single union, and under ILO standards they need to have multiple unions and need legislation to be enacted.

Bahrain had filed earlier this week two of those laws to make it clear that it is not only going to be the manner in which the government enforces the laws, but the underlying laws themselves will be in compliance with ILO standards. We also are permitted under this agreement to use the agreement in the event that we believe that they have not carried out their commitment. So this does reflect what we should be doing on workers' rights.

We can consider a matter arising under the FTA labor chapter if in fact Bahrain does not carry out its commitments as spelled out in the exchange of letters. This will allow the United States to initiate formal consultation with Bahrain on these commitments on the procedures outlined in article 15.6 of the agreement.

Finally, the USTR is committed to report periodically to Congress on Bahrain's fulfillment of its labor commitments. The USTR is further prepared to invoke article 15.6 procedures if Bahrain fails to carry out any of these commitments.

Mr. Speaker, I would note that the Bahrainian actions stand in contrast to some of the CAFTA countries that actually weakened or proposed weakening their laws after the CAFTA agreement was signed. Unlike the CAFTA countries, Bahrain is a country that is heading in the right direction with regards to labor reforms.

For all of these reasons and for the reasons that have been outlined by my colleagues, I would urge my colleagues to support this agreement. It opens up a market in a very important part of the world. It offers us a template for moving forward in the Middle East by using economics to bring peace and prosperity to that region, which is clearly in the interest of the United States.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, let me just remind my colleagues that we are talking about a free trade agreement with Bahrain, a country whose size is about the same as the city of Austin, Texas, and of course a very important country within the Middle East.

Mr. Speaker, I am now pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Meeks).

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, let me thank all of my colleagues who participated in this debate. Let me, once again, remind those who are following this debate that we are talking about a free trade agreement with Bahrain, a country which is about the same size as the city of Austin, whose total trade with the United States is measured in terms of a couple hundred million dollars. It is a country with a high standard of living for that region whose economy produces $19,000 plus per capita of GDP, which is about 4 times higher than we had in dealing with the CAFTA countries. It is also a country that imports labor and helps actually the economy of the region because of its economic opportunities.

I mention that so we can put this agreement in context. Many of my colleagues who have spoken of concern have talked about concern on economic policies related to trade here in the United States, and I join them on many occasions, particularly as they are referring to problems that we are having with trading partners. But that is not the issue that we have before us today.

The issue we have before us today is an agreement with a single country, Bahrain. One issue that we need to be concerned about is whether this agreement will not only advance the traditional barriers to trade by eliminating them, such as tariffs and some of the nontariff barriers, but how does it deal with issues that are becoming more important, such as workers' rights.

On the traditional barriers of tariff and nontariff issues, I have not heard any debate against this agreement. This agreement, in fact, removes barriers so that U.S. companies and U.S. manufacturers and U.S. farmers will have greater access to the market of Bahrain.

In regards to workers' rights, I agree with my colleagues that have spoken of concern about trade agreements. I think it is time that we graduate international labor standards to core provisions within the trade agreements, and that we have enforcement within the trade agreements.

But I think in judging Bahrain, we need to use the standard that we have used, and that is, does this Nation measure up to international labor standards. The answer to that question is yes. They have passed major reform in 2002. They have acknowledged the difficulties with those laws that need to be changed. They have issued interpretations to comply with ILO standards and have introduced laws that will correct the additional standards, and they have agreed to allow us to use the trade agreement to make sure that in fact these new laws are not only passed, but in fact, Bahrain is living up to ILO standards.

That to me is good faith with an ally, and one in which we can move forward and should move forward. So I think Bahrain has passed the test on an agreement that we should support, but at times there is more than just the economic issues that affect our country that we should be looking at whether we move forward with bilateral regional trade agreements.

In Bahrain's case, I think the evidence is overwhelming. We need to expand opportunities in the Middle East. The best chance for peace in the Middle East is if we can open up the economic opportunities of that region, and Bahrain offers us a country that has stepped forward and offered leadership. In repealing the boycott against Israel and saying that it wants to have open trade in the region, they will now be the fourth nation in that region that we will have a free trade agreement with. We have Jordan, Israel and Morocco. So this represents an opportunity to advance U.S. interest in stabilizing a region of the world that has been of major interest to the United States.

So for all these reasons, this agreement with a very small country that will have minimum impact on the economic activities of this country, I think it will be positive, but it will be minimum because of the size of the country, but represents progress as to how we should evaluate trading relations with other partners. Are they willing to remove barriers? Are they willing to respect international labor rights? Are they willing to be a good neighbor in the region to advance peace and stability? In each of these instances, Bahrain passes this test, and I urge my colleagues to support this agreement.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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