[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 43 (Wednesday, April 13, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H1951-H1952]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRADE IS THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, first, let me express my appreciation to my 
friend the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan).
  Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity a couple of weeks ago to join with 
my colleagues, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings), the gentleman 
from Washington (Mr. Hastings), the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. 
Gingrey) and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Crenshaw) to meet with 
leaders in the European Union and the European Commission. One of the 
things that I found from meeting with them and from discussions that I 
had with our great ambassador to the European Union, Rockwell Schnabel, 
is that trade is obviously the wave of the future.
  We have one of the most important trade relationships between the 25 
member European Union and the United States of America on the face of 
the earth. In fact, trade between the EU and the United States is just 
short of $1 trillion a year. It is $966 billion, in fact, last year.
  I think it is important for us to note that we have dealt with more 
than a few problems with the European Union. We have lots of great 
challenges, and I happen to believe that one of the best ways to deal 
with those challenges is for us to enhance that trade relationship.
  We are in the midst of discussing the establishment of our first 
bilateral trade agreement in a long period of time as we in the not-
too-distant future are going to be addressing the Central American Free 
Trade Agreement, which will include the Dominican Republic. As my 
colleagues know, Mr. Speaker, we have put together a wide range of 
bilateral agreements over the past several years.
  I today met with the ambassador from the United Arab Emirates, one of 
our great allies in the global war on terror, and we hope very much we 
are going to be able to put together a free trade agreement with the 
United Arab Emirates.
  I think it is also important for us to note that in dealing with the 
European

[[Page H1952]]

Union one of the best ways for us to address many of the disputes and 
challenges we have would be to embark upon a U.S.-EU free trade 
agreement. That is why today I have introduced H. Con. Res. 131, and I 
would encourage my colleagues to join in cosponsoring this very 
important measure. It is just a vehicle to begin the discussion, the 
prospects of negotiating for a U.S.-EU FTA.
  Mr. Speaker, let us look at some of the disputes that we have right 
now with the European Union.
  We all know that agriculture subsidies within the EU are many, many, 
many times greater than the agriculture subsidies that are provided for 
U.S. farmers. In fact, as we negotiated and worked on the farm bill, I 
voted against it at the end of the day, the farm bill, because I was 
concerned about the level of subsidization for U.S. agriculture.
  But one of the things that some of the leaders who were supportive of 
that measure here in the House said was that if we can see a diminution 
of the level of subsidization that the European Union provides to its 
agriculture sector of the economy we will not have to have the 
agriculture subsidies that we have in the United States. So, obviously, 
embarking on negotiations for a U.S.-EU free trade agreement would 
allow us to really begin to boldly address the issue of agriculture 
subsidies that are so great within the European Union.

                              {time}  1845

  Another dispute that we have is this struggle between Airbus and 
Boeing. We know that within the European Union there are tremendous 
subsidies for Airbus, and I believe we should do everything that we can 
to diminish those so we can have, in fact, a level playing field as we 
address the issue in the aerospace industry.
  And we have several other very important issues that need to be 
addressed in the area of privacy, in the area of e-commerce.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe that this step which we have taken today to 
begin the discussion of a U.S.-EU free trade agreement will be very 
beneficial in enhancing the standard of living of the American people, 
the people in the European Union, and the people around the world.

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