Unanimous Consent Request--S. Res. 134

Floor Speech

The committee has not been consulted on the resolution so Senators have not had adequate time to consider it. Needless to say, the prospect of reshaping the American economy with sweeping trade deals is not something that should just rocket past the committee of jurisdiction.

Second, I have serious concerns about blessing a potential trade agreement with the United Kingdom when the contents of such an agreement are still unknown. I stated a number of times that there are serious issues that need consideration with respect to our economic relationship with the United Kingdom. That cannot happen if the debates play out in a slapdash process on the floor of the Senate.

For example, the United Kingdom has not only proposed but implemented a discriminatory digital service tax since entering negotiations with the United States. What they are doing is opportunistically looting American technology companies before these measures are shut down by an FTA or another agreement. The UK is also considering other discriminatory policies.

The UK must commit to abandoning these unfair policies, which are serious barriers to trade, a detriment to the special relationship, harmful to American workers, as a precondition of honest and worthwhile negotiations.

Otherwise, if Senators are going to rush to hand out big promises on trade talks, they risk surrendering America's negotiating position on these key issues without getting anything in return.

So I don't see the wisdom in undermining good-paying American jobs and American businesses with a trading partner that has thus far seen no reason to back away from discriminatory measures.

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