Cornyn Grills Experts On The Need For Africa To Fill The Trade ‘Void That China And Russia’ Left

5 months ago

On Thursday, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) questioned experts on strengthening Africa's geopolitics during a Senate Finance Committee hearing.

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Transcript

00:00 trade love fest that we're having here today.

00:04 This is a refreshing development,

00:07 and I appreciate all the witnesses being here.

00:11 So just a few questions.

00:15 I'm particularly interested in AGOA and what's happening in Africa.

00:19 Senator Crapo talked a little bit about the geopolitical impacts in Africa.

00:27 And Ms. Lisa, I note that with the coups that are occurring in Africa,

00:35 that the void is being filled, it seems like, by Russia and China across the border.

00:42 Hardly democracies, hardly people sharing our values.

00:49 And can you just talk to me a little bit more about the need,

00:53 in terms of the geopolitics of Africa, filling the void that China and Russia

01:01 would otherwise fill if we don't by reauthorizing things like AGOA?

01:06 Thank you, Senator.

01:09 I think that the U.S. has a great opportunity to enhance its relationship with the Africans

01:15 and our economic partnership with them, recognizing that there are other actors in the world,

01:21 Russia, China, that are very active on the continent, but they're not the only ones.

01:25 Even our European partners and competitors are in Africa.

01:29 The Brazilians are there, the Indians are there, etc.

01:33 So the U.S. really does need to step up its engagement,

01:37 and there are a number of ways we can do that through tools we have.

01:40 Prosper Africa, the U.S. Export-Import Bank, DFC, etc.,

01:44 providing support to U.S. companies to actually sell their products to Africans

01:51 who then use it to manufacture and send here.

01:54 I recognize, though, also that there is a concern about some of the backtracking on democracy

02:00 and rule of law that we've seen, particularly in West Africa.

02:04 But we hope that it doesn't impact the narrative that Africa as a whole,

02:10 54 countries, it's not one country, 54 countries,

02:14 there are many opportunities for the U.S. to engage there.

02:18 And for those countries in West Africa, as I said, there have been some coups,

02:23 some backtracking, Gabon, Niger, Burkina Faso, unfortunately.

02:30 But I think to keep the pressure on them, basically, to come back into the good practices of rule of law,

02:38 political pluralism, these are things that are really important,

02:43 and sets an environment in those countries for trade and investment.

02:47 That's what we tell them.

02:49 You're doing this for other reasons, but you have to realize that this has an impact

02:54 on the environment in your country, and our companies are not going to want to invest here.

03:01 Those who are there may consider leaving or do leave, so you do need to get back on track.

03:06 And some of them have, and as I said, over the years,

03:09 you'll see that some of them fall out of the fold and then come back into the fold.

03:15 Well, we certainly can't promote our values if we're not there, which is what happens now.

03:21 And that, as I pointed out, the void seems to be filled by those with other motives

03:26 and very different values than we have.

03:29 Senator Carper and I have joined together on a number of op-eds and a number of hearings

03:36 about the opportunity we missed to take up the Trans-Pacific Partnership in particular.

03:43 It was, in my view, a major mistake, and I blame Republicans and Democrats alike,

03:49 but the fact of the matter is China is more than happy to fill that void,

03:53 and we know what a negative influence they're having in terms of threatening their neighbors.

03:58 Ms. Gill talked about the Philippines comes to mind, but other countries in the Indo-Pacific

04:04 and the South China Sea that are being threatened, not the least of which is Taiwan now.

04:09 And if we were more engaged in setting the standards with our friends and allies in the region,

04:14 I think that would have a very positive influence.

04:17 I remember a quote somewhere that I read that goes basically along these lines.

04:23 It says, "Make trade, not war."

04:26 And there are economists and others, Mr. Lindcombe, who argue that if you're trading with countries,

04:33 you're less likely to engage in military conflict.

04:38 Is there any truth to that?

04:40 Yes, definitely, Senator. Thank you.

04:42 I wrote a paper a couple years ago. I'm happy to provide it for the record.

04:46 Detailing the economics literature that shows repeatedly that countries that trade together

04:53 tend to have less armed conflict between each other.

04:57 Now, it's certainly not perfect. Russia and Ukraine have taught us that there are exceptions to that rule.

05:02 But you're talking about a substantial decrease in the likelihood of cross-border armed conflict

05:06 because of increased economic engagement.

05:09 When you couple that with the fact that has already been mentioned,

05:12 that countries like China and Russia are not simply sitting still.

05:15 They're engaging in places like Africa and Southeast Asia.

05:18 It's really critical that the United States get back into the game on trade policy,

05:23 unlike what's been going on for the last few years.

05:26 Well, it may be too late with the current administration in terms of trade policy,

05:30 but I think this is something that obviously there is strong bipartisan support for,

05:34 and I think we need to pursue these arguments for the reasons that all of you have testified to.

05:40 Thank you for being here. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

05:42 I thank my colleague. I would just only add one point.

05:45 Obviously, TPP was a debacle.

05:49 One of the areas that I'm proud of for this committee is we came back pretty quickly

05:54 with the U.S.-Canada-Mexico agreement.

05:56 Agreed.

05:57 We got to the key questions.

05:59 Business wanted access to markets and exports. We supported that.

06:03 And a lot of working families said there's got to be a better job on the labor and enforcement issues.

06:08 And so --

Cornyn Grills Experts On The Need For Africa To Fill The Trade ‘Void That China And Russia’ Left

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