U.S. Latinos Urge Congress To Pass Trade Promotion Authority.

The Board of Directors of The Latino Coalition (TLC) and the Hispanic Business Roundtable (HBR) launched a website,
http://www.FreeTradeforAmericas.com, as part of their campaign to educate the Hispanic community on the benefits of free and fair trade and to urge them to call on Congress to immediately pass Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), HR 3005.

“Our Boards strongly believe that having the U.S. as a party to only two out of the 130 preferential trade agreements in the world today is damaging our economy,” said TLC Chairman Dorene Dominguez, executive vice president of Vanir Construction Management in Los Angeles, Calif. “U.S. business and workers are missing vital opportunities.”

The facts are clear, international commerce provides enormous opportunities for U.S. business and workers, and particularly those in the U.S. Hispanic community. “Since the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), we have witnessed a very significant growth in the number and the size of Hispanic-owned businesses in the U.S. Our community benefits from the distinct competitive advantage when conducting business with Latin America of being bilingual and
bicultural. Increased trade has opened the door for business opportunities for our entrepreneurs and our workforce,” said HBR President Mario Rodriguez, CEO of Jonathan Grey & Associates Inc. in San Clemente, Calif.

“But we cannot just stop with NAFTA,” Rodriguez added. “The U.S. should be negotiating agreements with other countries in Latin America to expand business and job opportunities. While we debate amongst ourselves, Canada and other countries have already negotiated agreements, businesses have cemented opportunities, and their economies and workers are benefiting from them.”

“The data is clear: TPA is extremely important in expanding economic opportunities in the U.S. Hispanic community,” said HBR Board Member Remedios Diaz-Oliver, CEO of All American Containers, Inc. in Miami, Fla. “We will make sure that Hispanic voters across the country know where their member of Congress stood on this important issue.”

“We urge Hispanic business-owners and their workers to visit the website and sign the petition so we can present it to key Members of Congress before they vote on this issue,” said TLC Board Member Emil Peña, CEO of Generation Power Inc. in Houston, Texas. “Their support will show that providing the President with the power to negotiate trade agreements, in order to expand opportunities for U.S. businesses and their workers, is an extremely important issue for our community.
Members of Congress should know that this is a vote that we will be watching closely.”

The Latino Coalition and the Hispanic Business Roundtable are non-profit, non-partisan organizations based in Washington, D.C. They were established in 1995 to address policy issues that directly affect the well-being of Hispanics in the U.S. Their agenda is to develop and promote policies that will enhance overall business, economic and social development of Hispanics.