WASHINGTON – Last night, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) delivered remarks at a reception hosted by the American Circular Textiles (ACT) and Borderplex Alliance celebrating the introduction of the Americas Act. The reception, which was attended by officials from across the Western Hemisphere, highlighted Cassidy’s bipartisan, bicameral Americas Act, a comprehensive plan to create an ever-expanding and permanent trade partnership within the Americas. During his remarks, Cassidy outlined the need for this coherent hemispheric strategy that will counter the Chinese Communist Party’s growing control over global manufacturing and geopolitics.
“The United States has lacked a coherent hemispheric strategy for generations,” said Dr. Cassidy. “The Chinese Communist Party has taken advantage of this, manipulating its WTO membership and our incoherent trade policies to attract manufacturing away from the United States and the Western Hemisphere. The Americas Act reverses this trend.”
Cassidy highlighted the impact his bill could have on his home state of Louisiana by recognizing the attendance of Erick Comeaux, a plant manager for Orbia Industries in St. Gabriel, Louisiana. Orbia is a Mexican manufacturing company that has invested in Louisiana and with continued investment is estimated to employ 305 Louisianans with good-paying jobs.
“Orbia is a great example of a company choosing to do business here instead of China and is the type of investment that Americas Act will incentivize,” said Dr. Cassidy. “More high-paying jobs in Louisiana and the rest of the country, created by companies building in the United States instead of China, is exactly the purpose of this bill.”
Cassidy was joined by U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), co-lead of the Americas Act, ACT Executive Director Rachel Kibbe, Borderplex Alliance CEO Jon Barela, Ambassador Andres Duran of Uruguay, Ambassador Catalina Crespo Sancho of Costa Rica, staff from the Embassy of Chile, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Mexico, and industry at the reception.
Background
Cassidy and Bennet, along with U.S. Representatives Maria Salazar (R-FL-27), Adriano Espaillat (D-NY-13), and Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08)introduced the Americas Act in March 2024. More than 60 million Americans are of Hispanic descent, helping to make the U.S. the fourth-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. Together, the hemisphere grows enough food and produces enough critical minerals to sustain every country in the Americas.
Last year, Cassidy and Bennet spoke to the Council of the Americas about the Americas Act. They highlighted the need for the U.S. to reimagine its neglected Latin America policy and take a more comprehensive approach to the hemisphere. They focused on the plan’s mechanism to expand the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the gold standard for trade agreements, and the new investment corporation that would promote economic development across the hemisphere. The returns generated by the investment corporation would fully pay for the plan.
The discussion draft released last year received support from Latin American leaders and other stakeholders. Learn more about what people are saying.
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