| If I Had a Billion Dollars...
By Approving the Trade Agreement with Peru,
Congress Can Give a Real Boost to America's Economy
It isn't often that Congress has a chance to vote up-or-down on a measure that will boost U.S. exports by a billion dollars and U.S. GDP by two billion dollars. But that's precisely what the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement will do for the American economy.
As trade rises to the top of the Congressional agenda this fall, consider the estimates issued by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on how the Peru agreement will affect U.S. workers, farmers, and businesses:
- Exports and Economic Growth: The ITC estimates U.S. exports to Peru will increase by $1.1 billion, while imports will increase by $439 million. The agreement will add $2.1 billion per year to U.S. GDP.
- Level Playing Field: While U.S. companies currently face tariff rates ranging from 12% to 25% in Peru, fully 98% of imports from Peru already enter the U.S. marketplace duty-free, and the average U.S. duty on imports from Peru is just one-tenth of one percent.
- Front-Loaded Tariff Reductions: The agreement provides U.S. exporters with immediate duty-free access to the Peruvian market for 92% of industrial tariff lines and 78% of agricultural tariff lines upon entry-into-force.
- Access to Services Markets: The agreement provides U.S. services firms with unprecedented market access as well as national treatment and regulatory transparency. Sectors poised to benefit include computer and related services, real estate, construction, environmental, and pipeline transport services.
- Eliminate Bureaucratic Red Tape: Under the agreement, technical and regulatory standards will be much less likely to serve as a barrier to U.S. exports. U.S. farmers will benefit hugely from greater clarity on sanitary and phytosanitary measures. Customs modernization will lower the cost of trading to the benefit of Peru, the U.S., and transport and logistics companies.
Isn't it time to give American businesses a better chance to compete in Peru?
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|  | |  | | Did you know?
| | | U.S. farmers currently pay a tariff of 17% on all wheat and white corn exported to Peru, while Argentine farmers pay 3.4% -- which is why Argentina has won two-thirds of the Peruvian market. The U.S.-Peru trade agreement will eliminate tariffs on U.S. grain exports and provide American farmers with a level playing field.
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| | | | Overheard
| | | ''Today we are taking first steps in a new trade policy that stands up for U.S. workers and businesses and actively shapes the terms of expanded trade to spread its benefits more broadly.''
-House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Sander Levin (D-MI) on A New Trade Policy for America.
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