This website will be unavailable from Thursday, May 30, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. through Monday, June 3, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. due to data center maintenance.
79R3470 CLE-D
By: Van Arsdale H.R. No. 288
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, Taiwan is Texas' fifth-largest foreign market, and
the agriculture and manufacturing sectors of the Texas economy,
most notably the computer and electronic products, chemicals, and
machinery industries, would benefit significantly if the United
States enacted a free trade agreement with Taiwan; and
WHEREAS, A free trade agreement between the U.S. and Taiwan
would substantially reduce or eliminate most import quotas, duties,
and other trade barriers and expand market opportunities for
manufactured goods and agricultural products from Texas and the
entire U.S.; and
WHEREAS, The U.S. has completed or is in the process of
negotiating free trade agreements with several countries and
regions; reasons for pursuing a free trade agreement with Taiwan
include its status as the United States' eighth-largest trading
partner, its robust economy, and its long-standing educational and
cultural ties with the U.S.; and
WHEREAS, Taiwan was admitted to the World Trade Organization
(WTO) on January 1, 2001; a free trade agreement between the U.S.
and Taiwan would extend the coverage of WTO agreements to products,
sectors, and conditions of trade not adequately covered, and it
would provide a platform to address issues such as Taiwan's 15.2
percent average tariff rate on agricultural imports from the United
States; and
WHEREAS, Public Law 107-210, the Trade Act of 2002, gives the
president the authority to enter into trade agreements with foreign
countries whenever the president determines that one or more
existing duties or other import restrictions of any foreign country
or the United States are unduly burdening and restricting the
foreign trade of the United States; and
WHEREAS, President George W. Bush, speaking before the
historic signing of the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement in
2004, emphasized that he supports free and open trade because "it
has the power to create new wealth for whole nations and new
opportunities for millions of people" and "has a record of creating
jobs, raising living standards, and lowering consumer prices"; now,
therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 79th Texas
Legislature hereby respectfully encourage the president of the
United States to extend the benefits of free trade by enacting a
free trade agreement between the United States and Taiwan; and, be
it further
RESOLVED, That the chief clerk of the Texas House of
Representatives forward official copies of this resolution to the
president of the United States, to the speaker of the house of
representatives and the president of the senate of the United
States Congress, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to
the congress.