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Letter to former United States Trade Representative Rob Portman from Friends of New Zealand Congressional Caucus Co-chairs March 22, 2006 The Honorable Rob Portman United States Trade Representative 600 17th Street, NW Washington, DC 20508Dear Ambassador Portman: As co-chairs of the Friends of New Zealand Congressional Caucus, we are writing to express our continued interest in deepening U.S. trade and economic relations with New Zealand and to recommend that the two countries quickly begin negotiations toward a comprehensive free trade agreement. We were very pleased with the recent launches of free trade negotiations with South Korea and Malaysia and hope that similar trade talks can be initiated with New Zealand this year. Today, the United States is one of the largest investors in New Zealand’s economy, covering sectors from agriculture to finance, chemicals and telecommunications. The U.S. is the second largest exporter of goods to New Zealand, behind Australia, and it is estimated that U.S. merchandise exports will increase by 25% should such an agreement go into effect. The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) lists New Zealand among the top five countries with which the U.S. should consider FTA negotiations. We understand that one of the principal issues holding up free trade negotiations is New Zealand’s policy banning all nuclear powered and armed vessels from its waters. We would like to know if indeed this is the case or if there are other issues causing the hold up, as we believe that our first priority should be to eliminate trade barriers rather than having economic liberalization slowed down by extraneous bilateral issues. It is certain that we have differences in foreign policy at least as acute with other countries with whom we are currently negotiating bilateral agreements, but that has not prevented us from moving forward with those. Our past experience with comprehensive trade agreements has shown that commercial engagement allows us to strengthen and deepen bilateral relations and more effectively deal with other foreign policy issues. It is important to also note that New Zealand has been a solid partner with the U.S. during the war on terror. Every member of New Zealand’s Special Forces has served in Afghanistan hunting Al Queda and the New Zealand Army was the first army to take responsibility from the U.S. for leading a Provincial Reconstruction Team in the Bamyan Province in Afghanistan. New Zealand’s engineers have been in Iraq, and a New Zealand navy frigate and aircraft have been involved in the Maritime Interdiction Operation in the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman. In his notification to Congress on beginning an FTA with Australia, Ambassador Zoellick stated that he planned to solicit the views of Congress on a possible FTA with New Zealand. Now that the Australia FTA has successfully been implemented, we believe that we are overdue in launching negotiations with New Zealand. We await your timely response to our question and look forward to working with you on this and other issues in the future. Sincerely, Jim Kolbe Ellen O. Tauscher Member of Congress Member of Congress
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