[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 29 (Monday, July 21, 2003)]
[Pages 918-919]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Congress Transmitting Proposed Legislation To Implement 
the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement

July 15, 2003

To the Congress of the United States:

    I am pleased to transmit legislation and supporting documents to 
implement the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The 
Agreement will further open Chile's markets for U.S. manufactured goods, 
agricultural products, services, and investors. It will increase 
competition and consumer choice. The FTA will enhance prosperity in the 
United States and Chile, serve the interest of expanding U.S. commerce, 
and advance our overall national interest.
    The U.S.-Chile FTA is the first United States free trade agreement 
with a South American country. We hope the FTA will add momentum to 
Chile's continued implementation of the free market economic policies 
that have made Chile a model for its Latin American neighbors. This 
Agreement will also encourage other countries in the Western Hemisphere 
to follow Chile's path, furthering our efforts to establish a Free Trade 
Area of the Americas.
    My Administration is strongly committed to securing a level playing 
field for America's workers, farmers, and businesses. The Congress 
helped advance that policy by passing Trade Promotion Authority in the 
Trade Act of 2002 (the ``Trade Act''). The Congress can help us take 
another important step by approving this Agreement and the implementing 
legislation. United States workers and businesses are currently at a 
competitive disadvantage in the Chilean market. Chile is an associate 
member in Mercosur and has FTAs with many other countries, including 
Canada, Mexico, and the 15 members of the European Union. Securing an 
FTA with Chile will ensure that U.S. workers and businesses will receive 
treatment in the Chilean market that is as good as or better than their 
competitors.
    In negotiating this FTA, my Administration was guided by the 
negotiating objectives set out in the Trade Act. More than 85 percent of 
trade in consumer and industrial goods between the United States and 
Chile will be free of duties immediately upon implementation, and most 
remaining tariffs on U.S. exports to Chile will be eliminated within 4 
years after that. More than three-quarters of U.S. farm goods will enter 
Chile duty free within 4 years and all duties on such goods will be 
phased out over 12 years. At the same time, the Agreement includes 
measures to ensure that U.S. firms and farmers have an opportunity to 
adjust to imports from Chile.
    This Agreement opens opportunities for our services businesses, 
which now account for nearly 65 percent of our gross domestic product 
and more than 80 percent of employment in the United States. Chile will 
grant substantial market access to U.S. firms across nearly the entire 
spectrum of services, including banking, insurance, securities and 
related financial services, express delivery services, professional 
services, and telecommunications.
    This Agreement provides for state-of-the-art intellectual property 
protection and recognizes the importance of trade in the digital age by 
including significant commitments on trade in digital products. In 
addition, it ensures that electronic commerce will stay free of duties 
and discriminatory rules.
    United States citizens and businesses that invest in Chile will have 
significant increased protections. This Agreement promotes rule of law 
and enhances transparency and openness in order to foster a more secure 
environment for trade and investment. Furthermore,

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Chile will provide U.S. investors with important substantive protections 
that Chilean investors already enjoy in the United States.
    The United States and Chile have also agreed to cooperate on 
environment and labor issues and to establish mechanisms to support 
those efforts. A number of important cooperative projects that will 
promote environmental protection are identified for future work. The FTA 
encourages the adoption of high labor and environmental standards, 
obligates each country to enforce its own labor and environmental laws, 
and makes clear that domestic labor and environmental protections may 
not be reduced in order to encourage trade or investment. The Agreement 
also preserves our right to pursue other legitimate domestic objectives, 
including the protection of health and safety, consumer interests, and 
national security.
    Trade and openness contribute to development, the rule of law, 
economic growth, and international cooperation. Chile is a close partner 
of the United States, and this Agreement will strengthen those ties.
    With the approval of this Agreement and passage of the implementing 
legislation by the Congress, we will advance U.S. economic and political 
interests, while encouraging others to work with us to expand free trade 
around the world.
                                                George W. Bush
 The White House,
 July 15, 2003.