Pharmaceutical ingredients, of which 95 of imports of ibuprofen are from china. I just want to lay that out for this administration to consider. I think it is another opportunity for us when we talk about nearshore rain and friendshoring, that could be a good strategic partnership. The committee stands and recess. Thank you. The committee will come back to order as you know, ambassador, trade policy is incredibly important to me and my district and my constituents. I represent the heavy agricultural district and Manufacturing District whose jobs and economic success rely on Market Access account of the building and opportunities to send our Great American products all across the globe. Knowing that, i dont think it should be a surprise to anyone here that ive been incredibly frustrated that another year has passed without kind of a proactive substantive policy on trade and progress on the an enforceable trade agreements from the Biden Administration. I know you, ambassador tai, you are in the senate yesterday or the day before the Senate Finance committee, and i know there was frustration over there. There was a political article that said the ambassador plays defense as the senate rips into the trade agenda. In that article ellipsis senators on both sides of the aisle criticized for not initiating the trade agreements with foreign partners. Opting instead for frameworks that lack the same Market Access professions and Enforcement Mechanisms as traditional. Weve talked about this a little bit before. We sit here two years into this job we dont have an fta with kenya or with taiwan. We dont allow them to take advantage and to set the Playing Field for the disadvantage of u. S. Businesses and workers. I am also a member of the new select committee on china which has raised awareness in a bipartisan way that what we see every day in the Indo Pacific Region is the growing threats of china and considering that, having an insufficient trade engagement in that region. I believe it is unacceptable. And i know you mentioned as a look at it today i believe the framework is actually getting weaker. Take the digital pillar as an example. Theyve chosen to engage in a framework that lacks tangible policy and avoids congressional consultation or approval, and im hoping to hear your views on that and i worry that we are not countering were providing Strong Enough alternatives to the growing pressure of nonmarket economies. Instead of increasing the leadership in the Indo Pacific Region, countering the influence into leaning in on opportunities like digital trade to set global rules and standards that would put countries like china at a disadvantage we are missing an opportunity to use trade as an offense of tool. And so i mentioned those things again as we look at every conversation as a part of the select committee on china when we talk to our likeminded whether its japan, south korea, australia they are craving our leadership economically and i just i express my frustration and concerns about two years in and weve not made any progress on these things. So with that, id love to hear your specific ideas or comments whether it prevents alternatives to chinas pressure in the Indo Pacific Region. Its good to see you and let me say a couple things before i get to your specific question. I hear your frustrations and id like to make two points. One is you are seeing a key part of the trade that its not the traditional trade agenda and that is out of a recognition that a lot of the challenges we are facing today, whether it is the supply chain challenges, whether it is the challenges that we are facing from nonmarket economy practices like those from the prc to russias invasion of ukraine that a lot of these have roots in the traditional trade approach that has brought us to where we are today. So yes, we are not preserving traditional fully liberalizing trade agreements because we see those as a part of the problem that we are trying to correct. So, your frustrations are affirming that yes we are not preserving the traditional trade agenda. But what i would like to point out to you, and i would be delighted to spend more time with you as well is to have you see those things that we are doing, that we are putting forth a trade agenda to try to correct for exactly some of the challenges that you have highlighted especially with respect to the nonmarket economic policies and practices that have really made the Playing Field extremely tilted and we will have to adapt and respond to as long as the practices are there. I am delighted that you are as a member of the ways and Means Committee i think there are two of you with that are on the china select committee. Im looking for an opportunity to come up to brief the committee and get to know you better. Let me get to the economic framework. You are absolutely right our partners in the region are thirsting for engagement with us on economic matters. That is what we are bringing through the framework including the digital engagement. We have got very robust, very enthusiastic participation from 13 partners in the region, 12 of whom are actively engaging with us through two rounds of negotiation. And im happy to spend more time with you there as well but our vision is for an Economic Engagement in the indo pacific that is first of all durable and well supported at home and second of all that promotes the shared interest of that we have with all of our partners around adapting to a very disrupted Global Economy that will bring more resilience, more sustainability and inclusiveness to all of our economies by working together and i would be delighted to spend more time with you and explain how what we are doing here connects with those goals. I would appreciate your willingness to meet with the select committee. The last point i would make is what the ccp fears the most is bipartisan support engagement in the Indo Pacific Region we look forward to working with you on it. Ms. Sanchez is recognized. Thank you, transmitting and Ranking Member neil for the opportunity to discuss the Biden Administrations 2023 trade agenda and i want to thank you for returning to brief us about the efforts to advance the Worker Center trade agenda and for your always willing to be accessible and available. You let the administration along with calling for its muchneeded reform and i want to commend you for the stance youve taken to the defense of the National Security while ensuring a commitment to a rulesbased trading system. I also want to highlight your leadership for the strong environmental commitments and labor standards through the Rapid Response mechanism under the u. S. Mca. As a former labor lawyer, i am proud of that our efforts have led to an unprecedented number of Union Elections and the facilities. To that end, the u. S. Mca model includes the updates that many of us here in Congress Want to see reflected across the trade agreements of the western hemisphere. Ambassador tai, you stated the American Partnership for Economic Prosperity will build upon the strong core of trade agreements in the hemisphere yet the United States is not effectively enforced several existing agreements with countries in the region including Member States of the dominican republic. I was hoping maybe you could speak to the administrations views on the best way to improve labor enforcement under cap and would it be practical to with congressional approval to update the labor standards and include the Rapid Response mechanism like we see in the u. S. Mca . Its wonderful to see you. I appreciate the question because we do care about our partnerships with them our neighbors in the western hemisphere. In terms, you will recall it is one of our pre may 10th agreements and there were enhancements and improvements like the ones we made in the u. S. Mca in the earlier version two labor and environmental provisions and enforceability of those. So, to your point about the opportunity for leveling up if you will, it is something that we think about and a number of different ways with respect to that particular agreement. On the Americas Partnership, let me touch on that briefly. We know that in our own a hemisphere we have the most existing traditional freetrade agreement that we have are in this hemisphere and yet the partners with whom we have those agreements continue to want Something Different and more from us and i think it really does reflect the changing nature of the World Economy and the needs that we have around promoting resilient, sustainability and inclusiveness, so whether it is with partners with whom we have an fta already or those that we do not come of the progress we are advancing right now and the trade agenda is not meant to address those items. To the question about how to revisit some of these pieces in the context of the Americas Partnership, id be delighted to explore that with you. I think theres a lot of potential. We are really focused on our regional resilience in a new way and i think that theres a lot of opportunity. Thank you. So, im wondering if you foresee any tension between states that are party to both and the compliance with the differing agreements if one has a strict standard. Ive been thinking about it differently in terms of the Americas Partnership there are 11 of us right now, so thats the United States plus ten. Of those 108 of them have freetrade agreements. The two of them do not. We didnt want to make them a disqualifying factor because we want to think about the region as a whole. We want to advance an agenda here that is complementary to the existing arrangements that we have and this is an area as we get into more detail that i would be very happy to continue to work with you on. I have one last question. My time is short so i will submit it for you to respond to in writing. Thank you for your time and again for always being willing to be accessible for questions or input. I yield back. The gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman and ambassador tai for testifying today. Ive noticed the Biden Administration has a bad habit of redefining things that dont fit your agenda. For example, last year the administration redefined the definition of the recession. Now the administration is redefining what is considered a freetrade agreement, ustr has also been working to redefine congresses role in developing trade arrangements as exhibited the involvement. Youre also redefining what consultation with congress means. Before our Senate Finance counterparts yesterday, you told multiple senators that youve been in close consultation with congress as you negotiate critical agreements with japan and the eu but i want people to know, my constituents to know what activities the ustr is defining as close consultation. Apparently you believe that close consultation is leaving documents in a skiff for members to review but not share with constituents and staff level zoom hearings. I dont believe that is sufficient consultation to move forward with signing any critical mining agreement that our constituents have not been allowed to see. I know many of my colleagues have raised and will continue to raise similar concerns and i hope that it conveys the point that Congress Finds this wholly inadequate consultation with congress. Pivoting from definitions, i want to raise a few constituent specific trade matters the first relates to gsp and i hear from so many constituent companies about how theyve been an effective tool for them to strengthen their supply chains, to create highpaying jobs at home and overseas attitude of interest in sustainability. I know congress is responsible for the renewal, but i would like to ask what tools does ustr have at its disposal or what tools could congress provide as a part of the renewal to ensure that any new Eligibility Criteria in the gsp promotes a race to the top both across and within the countries but also avoids farming the users like ive heard from that are meeting or exceeding the Programs Development totals or goals i should say, im sorry. I like your question although the lineup was a little bit brutal. Let me just say on consultations look, i am here before you right now. Let me just commit to desire to be here as much as possible on issues and if you have specific concerns with respect to the Critical Minerals, which im sure you will, please always feel free to reach out. Im taking the feedback and we will commit to do better as well. On gsp, look i think that gsp ought to reflect the state of modern u. S. Trade policy practice. We have anna established bipartisan, bicameral consensus in u. S. Trade policy that trade includes labor and the environment. This is something that i carried with me and all of my conversations with my counterparts around the world to say that you should be like us and acknowledge that trade is more about just goods crossing the border but it is about Economic Engagement and making our economies Work Together. So, in terms of to reflect both labor and environmental criteria it should reflect that race to the top and yes it should be usable but that is because at heart it is a Development Tool and theres an additional u. S. Mca enforcement challenge that the Pennsylvania Company is facing that i just want to bring up as well. As you know, canada committed to ensuring the u. S. Home shopping programming could distribute in the country under annex 15 of u. S. Mca. I understand president bidens meeting with of the pre minister trudeau this weekend im asking for your commitment to work on this enforcement issue with my office and we will also be following up by the way with a formal letter that has a huge impact on the pennsylvaniabased company qvc. I know this issue well and i would be happy to work with you on it. Thank you, ambassador. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Thank you very much for being here. Also thank you for being so responsive to our concerns on behalf of our constituents about the illadvised property tax in canada thats imposed on the underutilized properties. It was intended to address a problem with foreign interest purchasing large swaths of land in both toronto and vancouver and then holding that and taking supply off the table, increasing the cost of housing and the availability of housing or decreasing the availability of housing so i just want to thank you for that. China and russia are involved in a big land grab in africa for rare earth elements, cobalt, copper and lithium. These are essential elements to developing electric vehicles and semiconductor manufacturing. They are the primary inputs for future Global Economic growth. So today its a global gold rush for these minerals. Combined, china owns about 80 of these minerals followed by the United States. Each refined materials or imports from china. Production of electric vehicle batteries worldwide china has 553 gigawatt hours the United States has 44 gigawatts hours. According to the snp global, global lothian ion capacity will more than double by 2025. China will have 65. 2 , germany will have 11. 3 . The United States, 6. 3 . There are 200 battery factories being built between now and 2030. 148 of them will be in china, 21 in europe and 11 in the United States. Theres a lot of talk here and generally in the congress about being tough on china. While that is true i think we have to be tougher on ourselves about china. The Biden Administration i think is responding to that with both of the Inflation Reduction Act and also the chips and science act to incentivize re shoring, call it what you will. My concern is giving dominance in the continent of africa and in the area of electric vehicle lothian ion and manufacturing. Is that too little too late relative to the United States trying to catch up and what is the vision with the Inflation Reduction Act and the chips and science act relative to that competition . Thank you so much, congressman. I agree with you and i really appreciate you highlighting all of the data and statistics to demonstrate the dominance of the prc in the Global Marketplace in a lot of these areas. Let me address the question with respect to africa first which is i tend not to think about it as, first i dont think its too little too late. First of all, we cant think like that. But also i just dont think its true. With respect to africa, where i would like to start in terms of our partnership with africa is to ground it in our partnership being inherently valuable for being good partners, a good partner to africa. In terms of the demographics of africa, the use of its population, the growth in terms of its population as well as all of its other resources, africa