Business Roundtable President Urges Approval of DR-CAFTA In Senate Finance Committee Testimony

Castellani Calls for Economic Growth Through Continued American Leadership on Trade

WASHINGTON, DC - In testimony before the Senate Committee on Finance, Business Roundtable President John J. Castellani cited the significant economic benefits DR-CAFTA holds for virtually every sector of the U.S. economy, and called on Congress to approve the trade agreement and open the second largest export market in Latin America to U.S. products and services.

"DR-CAFTA is more than just another trade agreement - it is a symbol of continued U.S. support and engagement in open international markets," stated Castellani. "The competitiveness of America's business, farmers, and workers is strengthened by participation in international markets, and removing trade barriers through trade agreements such as DR-CAFTA is vital to our continued economic growth."

In his testimony, Castellani outlined four primary reasons that Business Roundtable members are united in their support for DR-CAFTA.

• First, approval of DR-CAFTA is vital to signaling continued U.S. support for hemispheric and global trade negotiations and maintaining continued leadership in those negotiations.
• Second, DR-CAFTA is important to American businesses and their workers because its groundbreaking provisions will level the playing field for U.S. companies and their workers by giving U.S. exports the same access to the Central American and Dominican Republic markets that exports from those countries already enjoy in the United States.
• Third, DR-CAFTA will help improve the economies of the Dominican Republic and countries of Central America, and in doing so will help protect and nurture their democracies.
• Fourth, the labor and environment provisions that are built into the DR-CAFTA are a strong catalyst for promoting improved working and environmental conditions in the region.

"DR-CAFTA promises not only to establish a healthy two-way trading relationship between the United States and Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic, it will also lock-in the economic progress and political reforms now benefiting the region. That's good for our neighbors, and good for America," he concluded.

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Business Roundtable (www.businessroundtable.org) is an association of chief executive officers of leading corporations with a combined workforce of more than 10 million employees in the United States and $4 trillion in revenues. The chief executives are committed to advocating public policies that foster vigorous economic growth and a dynamic global economy.

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