2023 Washington Conference: U.S. Senator Michael Bennet
2023 Washington Conference: U.S. Senator Michael Bennet
The Colorado senator discussed collaboration opportunities across the Western Hemisphere in an interview with AS/COA Vice President Eric Farnsworth.
Speaker
- Michael Bennet, U.S. Senator (D-CO)
- Eric Farnsworth, Vice President, Americas Society/Council of the Americas
"Together, we could compete much more effectively with China. Together, we could deal with the migration issues," said U.S. Senator Michael Bennet about the Western Hemisphere, at the 53rd Washington Conference on the Americas Keynote Luncheon, which took place on November 8, 2023 at the United States Department of State in Washington, D.C. In an interview with AS/COA Vice President Eric Farnsworth, Senator Bennet discussed trade and migration in the Americas.
The senator discussed regional integration in the Western Hemisphere. He supports the Americas Trade and Investment Act, or the Americas Act, to increase and strengthen trade agreements. He also noted the impact trade can have on increasing migration in the Americas. "There's nothing more significant than a policy that creates economic growth in Latin America because that is the way to solve [the migration problem] in the long run," said Senator Bennet.
Farnsworth asked Bennet about the U.S. business community's efforts to target Latin America. Bennet noted that the private sector in the United States had decreased investment in China by 80 percent. That capital, Senator Bennet believes, should instead be invested in the Western Hemisphere. "The only thing that would make us better-situated than we are today is if we had a broad partnership that started with those two trading partners right next to us [Mexico and Canada] and extended to the rest of Latin America."
