Bush Comments Publicly on CAFTA
June 01, 2005
At a press conference yesterday, President Bush urged Congress to pass CAFTA, making it the third time in a little over a week that he has personally intervened in the debate over CAFTA. Bush identified CAFTA, along with his energy bill, social security reform, and his budget, as one of the major priorities for Congress. Bush went on to state that these four items were necessary to keep the economy "strong."
The text of his initial comments on CAFTA:
Third, Congress needs to ratify the Central American and Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement -- that's called CAFTA. This agreement is a good deal for American workers and farmers and small businesses. See, about 80 percent of the products from Central America and the Dominican Republic now enter the United States duty-free; yet, our exports to Central America and the Dominican Republic face hefty tariffs. CAFTA will level the playing field by making about 80 percent of American exports to those countries duty-free. I've always said I'm for free and fair trade -- this makes our trade with the CAFTA countries fair. And that's important. After all, the CAFTA agreement will open a market of 44 million consumers to our producers, to our workers, the products that our workers make, to our farmers.We'll lower barriers in key sectors like textiles, which will make American manufacturers more profitable and competitive in the global market, and keep jobs here in America. And it will support young democracies. And that's going to be important. There's a geopolitical, as well as economic, concern for CAFTA. And Congress needs to pass this piece of legislation.
Later, when addressing a question about whether or not he is losing legislative momentum:
We've got to get CAFTA, which is a very important trade agreement. It will be good for workers.