Written by Don Byrd
Last week, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to add a provision to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement that would require the Administration “to take into account conditions relating to religious freedom of any party to negotiations for a trade agreement with the United States.”
In a floor speech in support of the amendment, Senator James Lankford (R-OK) said:
When we trade, we not only exchange goods, we exchange ideas and values. Our greatest export is our American value–the dignity of each person, hard work, innovation, and liberty.
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I have been told over and over again that we don’t talk about religious freedom in our trade negotiations. I have just asked, why not? We should encourage trade with another country when that country acknowledges our basic value of the dignity of every person to live their own faith. Our Nation is not just an economy; our Nation is a set of ideas and values. We believe each person has value and worth. It benefits every person from each nation in the trade agreement if we lead with our values and not sell out for a dollar people who have been in bondage as a prisoner of conscience for years.
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When people have freedom of conscience and faith, they are also better trading partners. Their country is stable, their families are stable, and their economy will grow. With that, I encourage this body to do something new. Let’s start exporting the values we hold dear, not to compel other nations to have our faith but to have other nations recognize the power of the freedom of religion within their own borders.
The amendment passed 92-0. The Trans-Pacific Partnership would include Vietnam, which is one of the countries the US Commission on International Religious Freedom has recommended as a “country of particular concern” for its religious freedom policies and practices.
