[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 156 (Saturday, November 8, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H10351]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    UNITED STATES IS EXPORTING JOBS

  (Mr. BALLENGER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, while we are playing around with fast 
track, our neighbors to the north are eating our economic lunch and 
stealing our job growth. Let me give my colleagues a couple quotes, 
first from the Washington Post. ``Because of a recent free-trade pact 
between Canada and Chile that lowered tariffs between the two 
countries, Caterpillar is beginning to lose sales in Chile to a small 
Canadian competitor.
  ``If Caterpillar finds that it is seriously disadvantaged in Latin 
America by the absence of free-trade agreements, the company would 
consider shifting production out of the United States and into the 
region, or to places such as Canada or Mexico that already have duty-
free arrangements with much of Latin America.''
  Some other U.S. companies are investigating whether their Canadian 
subsidiaries and plants should now handle their business with Chile in 
order to profit from tariff breaks.
  Ford Motor Co. says it is beginning to examine the feasibility of 
shipping its popular F-series pickup trucks to Chile from Canada. More 
than 50 Canadian-Chilean joint ventures are already operating, and some 
of those are already shipping to other Latin American countries.
  Mr. Speaker, as the AFL-CIO sticks its head in the sand, we are 
exporting jobs.

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