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Readout: Representative Adriano Espaillat Leads Americas Panel During 54th Washington Conference on the Americas Luncheon
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NEW YORK, NY – This week, Representative Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) joined leaders from throughout the Western Hemisphere during the 54th Annual Washington Conference on the Americas.
“I was honored to join leaders from around the Americas during the 54th Annual Washington Conference on the Americas to discuss how we strengthen industry, trade, and business throughout the region,” said Rep. Espaillat. “As a globally connected society, this is an unprecedented time facing the Western Hemisphere and how we move forward today will impact communities throughout the region for generations to come.”
During the conference, Espaillat and top leaders from the Western Hemisphere explored advancing the business case for the Americas and discussed the state of trade, energy, and democracy in the region.
"In terms of trade and jobs, our Hemisphere is in trouble of losing out to cheaply and illegally made goods in Asia. And this was not assisted by the presence of the Generalized System of Preferences Program (GSP)," said Espaillat. "The GSP program allowed more than half of the world’s countries, especially in Asia, though not China, a way to export many products duty-free to the United States, even if we did not have a free trade agreement with their country.
"GSP was intended to benefit economies of poorer nations like Indonesia, Madagascar, and Sri Lanka, but it ended up being abused by Asian companies for cheap or illegal labor, undercutting workers in the Americas, especially in CAFTA-DR nations," he continued.
"That is why I introduced the Americas Act, which represents the most transformative piece of legislation in two decades for assisting our Western Hemisphere allies," said Espaillat. "The Americas Act is a multi-billion-dollar job creation tool for workers in the United States, and for our allies in the Caribbean, in Central America, and in South America. Our bill will help counter China’s influence in our Hemisphere, fix our trade deficit, secure our supply chains. Additionally, the Americas Act will stem the root causes of migration in our Hemisphere, by creating jobs, tackling poverty, and increasing safety in our neighboring countries. How we move forward with legislation such as the Americas Act and other efforts will impact American trade today and for generations in the future."
Espaillat's Americas Act, introduced in collaboration with Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar (R-FL), will also create a $60 billion “nearshoring and reshoring” U.S. loan program, along with a multi-billion-dollar nearshoring and reshoring tax incentive program, to relocate jobs from China back to our Hemisphere.
The Americas Act is a multi-billion-dollar job creation tool for workers in the United States, and for our allies in the Caribbean, in Central America, and in South America.
The bill will:
• Counter China’s influence in our Hemisphere, fix our trade deficit, secure our supply chains.
• Stem the root causes of migration in our Hemisphere, by creating jobs, tackling poverty, and increasing safety in our neighboring countries.
• Create a $60 billion “nearshoring and reshoring” U.S. loan program, along with a multi-billion-dollar nearshoring and reshoring tax incentive program, to relocate jobs from China back to our Hemisphere.
• Create two separate five-year, $110 million-dollar annual grant programs to support two key Western Hemisphere industries: textiles, and medical devices. These two products represent the two biggest exports from CAFTA-DR nations to the U.S.
• Will close our “de minimis” trade loophole with China, a loophole which has caused so much job loss and pain for our region.
Click here to read more about the Americas Act.
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Representative Espaillat is the first Dominican American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and his congressional district includes Harlem, East Harlem, West Harlem, Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, Inwood, Marble Hill and the north-west Bronx. First elected to Congress in 2016, Representative Espaillat is serving his fourth term in Congress. Representative Espaillat currently serves as a member of the influential U.S. House Committee on Appropriations responsible for funding the federal government’s vital activities and serves as Ranking Member of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee of the committee during the 118th Congress. He is also a member of the House Budget Committee and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), where he serves in a leadership role as the Deputy Chair as well as Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI). Rep. Espaillat is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) and serves as a Senior Whip of the Democratic Caucus. To find out more about Rep. Espaillat, visit online at https://espaillat.house.gov/.
Media inquiries: Candace Person at [email protected]
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