[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 152 (Wednesday, October 12, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1830]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   UNITED STATES-PANAMA TRADE PROMOTION AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 11, 2011

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the 
U.S.-Panama Free Trade Agreement.
  We have been waiting to vote on this agreement since it was first 
signed in 2007, which means four years of lost opportunities.
  But now we have a chance to repair that damage.
  In the past year alone, Panama's economy grew 6.2 percent, making it 
one of the fast growing in Latin America and an expanding opportunity 
for American exporters.
  Panama is already among Miami-Dade county's top 25 trading partners, 
and Florida as a whole ranks number one among the 50 States in exports 
to that country.
  These figures will only increase once the FTA has been approved and 
American businesses no longer face heavy tariffs and other artificial 
barriers to trade.
  Currently, U.S. industrial exports face an average tariff of 7 
percent, with some tariffs as high as 81 percent.
  Once this agreement goes into effect, 87 percent of all U.S. goods 
exported to Panama will become duty-free immediately.
  In the past 4 years since the U.S-Panama Free Trade Agreement was 
signed, American companies have paid millions upon millions of dollars 
in tariffs to the Panamanian government.
  Those are dollars needlessly spent by U.S. businesses, which they 
could have used for investments and expansion here in the U.S. instead 
of paying fees to a foreign government.
  Approval of the U.S.-Panama FTA will eliminate this transfer of 
wealth, increase U.S. exports, and create new jobs here at home that so 
many Americans are desperately searching for.
  The agreement also has many other provisions of importance to U.S. 
businesses, especially strengthening intellectual property rights, 
which are under assault around the world.
  In addition to the potential economic growth stemming from this 
agreement, Panama is a key strategic ally in the region.
  Ever since the Panama Canal was completed a century ago, Panama's 
importance to the U.S. has only increased as a major transportation 
route, with two-thirds of its traffic consisting of shipments between 
our west and east coasts.
  For these many reasons--expanded exports, increased jobs, and closer 
ties with a strategic ally--I strongly urge my colleagues on both sides 
of the aisle to vote in favor of the U.S.-Panama Free Trade Agreement.

                          ____________________