{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.crapo.senate.gov/media/newsreleases/crapo-thune-boozman-lead-republican-colleagues-in-urging-biden-administration-to-prioritize-market-access-in-us-trade-agenda", "Crapo, Thune, Boozman Lead Republican Colleagues in Urging Biden Administration to Prioritize Market Access in U.S. Trade Agenda", "2022-05-10", "2022", "2022-05", "Republican", "Senate", "ID", "Mike Crapo", "C000880", "www.crapo.senate.gov", "crapo", "https://www.crapo.senate.gov/media/newsreleases", "scraper", "Washington D.C.--U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, Finance Committee Member John Thune (R-South Dakota) and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry John Boozman (R-Arkansas) led a group of Republicans in a letter urging U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to prioritize market access initiatives as part of America\u2019s trade agenda.\n\nFrom the letter:\n\n\u201cAdvancing U.S. economic interests--particularly in the Indo-Pacific region--requires meaningful and enforceable market access commitments,\u201d the senators wrote. \u201cWe are concerned that the Biden administration is foregoing America\u2019s trade and strategic leadership by failing to pursue such commitments, whether through its Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) or through its decision not to pursue comprehensive free trade agreements, which was reflected in the President\u2019s 2022 Trade Policy Agenda. The lack of ambitious market-opening initiatives not only disadvantages U.S. workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses today, it jeopardizes America\u2019s competitiveness, resilience, and security in the long-term.\u201d\n\nThe letter was also signed by U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), Richard Burr (R-North Carolina), Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Montana), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), John Hoeven (R-North Dakota), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi), Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota), Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska), Tim Scott (R-South Carolina), Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania), Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) and Todd Young (R-Indiana).\n\nSenator Crapo recently highlighted the importance of free trade agreements to Idaho\u2019s economy, pressing the Administration to pursue comprehensive free trade agreements, not just dialogue and frameworks.\n\nRead the full letter here or below.\n\n___________________________________\n\nDear Ambassador Tai and Secretary Vilsack:\n\nAdvancing U.S. economic interests \u2013 particularly in the Indo-Pacific region \u2013 requires meaningful and enforceable market access commitments. We are concerned that the Biden administration is foregoing America\u2019s trade and strategic leadership by failing to pursue such commitments, whether through its Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) or through its decision not to pursue comprehensive free trade agreements, which was reflected in the President\u2019s 2022 Trade Policy Agenda. The lack of ambitious market-opening initiatives not only disadvantages U.S. workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses today, it jeopardizes America\u2019s competitiveness, resilience, and security in the long-term.\n\nUnlike traditional trade agreements, the IPEF is not expected to include critical market access commitments. The failure to include such commitments puts American exporters, including agricultural producers, at a competitive disadvantage in the global market. It also signals to the world that the United States is not committed to fully engaging commercially or strategically in the region. Thus, while some aspects of the IPEF may have potential, it is not a credible counterweight to the market-opening agreements that other countries, including China, are actively advancing.\n\nAmerica cannot afford to sit on the sidelines in trade. For generations, a large part of our nation\u2019s economic success has been based on the United States advocating for more, not less, open markets. For example, U.S. farm and food product exports grew from $46.1 billion in 1994 to more than $177 billion in 2021, which was largely due to greater market access opportunities for American exporters. These U.S. exports lead to good-paying jobs at home and help spread the reach of American influence abroad. Free trade agreements are also far from relics of the past, as Ambassador Tai recently implied at a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. In fact, 13 of the 16 enacted U.S. free trade agreements were passed by Congress since the turn of this century. Opening new markets for customers, reducing barriers for business, and enforcing robust trade agreements are cornerstones of our national prosperity.\n\nRegrettably, U.S. trade leadership has thus far taken a backseat to other priorities under this administration. But, as you know, global trade does not simply pause until the administration deems it worthy of pursuing. Opening new markets means more high-paying jobs for workers and lower-cost goods for consumers at home. The administration\u2019s failure to engage on Trade Promotion Authority or find other avenues to open markets means our workers and producers will continue to lose ground to competitors. In contrast, China continues to advance its Belt and Road Initiative; it recently concluded the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the world\u2019s largest free trade agreement; and it now aspires to join the higher quality Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.\n\nWe respectfully urge you to include market access and enforceable commitments as part of the IPEF, and any other U.S. trade agreements, and we stand ready to work with you to strengthen American trade leadership.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T02:29:07Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.crapo.senate.gov/media/newsreleases/crapo-thune-boozman-lead-republican-colleagues-in-urging-biden-administration-to-prioritize-market-access-in-us-trade-agenda"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.938081182539463, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}