Pelican State News

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) participated in a conversation with the Atlantic Council’s Latin America Center entitled, “Closer to Home: Bringing Supply Chains Back to the Americas.” During the conversation, they highlighted the Americas Act which would create an ever-expanding and permanent trade partnership of Western Hemisphere countries and counter China’s growing control over global manufacturing and geopolitics by uniting democracies in our hemisphere. 

“It’s been since John F. Kennedy that the United States has had a coherent policy towards the Western Hemisphere. We have suffered from that,” said Dr. Cassidy. “Our Americas Act will make economies across the hemisphere more resilient, governments more stable, and our hemisphere more prosperous.”

“For decades, Washington has failed to create any comprehensive policy or offer a compelling alternative to Chinese investment in the region. While we’ve been busy elsewhere, China has rushed to fill the void with a surge of trade, investment, and technology. We’ve already seen these relationships pose a long-term threat to local industries, minerals, environment, the rule of law throughout the Western Hemisphere, and I think the Americas Act offers an opportunity for the United States to renew our partnerships across Latin America and the Caribbean and embrace our values together in a shared struggle for democracy and for prosperity, said Senator Bennet. “I am extremely glad to continue this work with Senator Cassidy and our partners across the region so we don’t go another 50 years and look back on what could have been. Right now, I’m extremely hopeful looking toward the future with the Americas Act [about] the vast opportunity that we have together to build a prosperous, safe, and free hemisphere. That’s important to us, but it’s really important to our kids and our grandkids.”

The conversation also featured Costa Rica Foreign Trade Minister H.E. Manuel Tovar, Panama Minister of Trade and Industry H.E. Federico Alfaro Boyd, and Guatemala Economic Minister H.E. Janio Rosales.

Click here to rewatch the event.

Background

More than 60 million Americans are of Hispanic descent, helping to make the U.S. the fourth-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. Together, the hemisphere grows enough food and produces enough critical minerals to sustain every country in the Americas.

Cassidy announced Bennet will join the bill as the Senate co-lead last month. 

Original source can be found here