Blumenauer Welcomes USTR Enforcement Action to End Illegal Logging in Peru

Washington, DC – Today, Representative Earl Blumenauer (OR-03) welcomed steps taken by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to end the trade of illegally harvested timber in Peru.

“Under our agreement with Peru, I fought for important tools to help end the illegal trade in timber,” said Representative Blumenauer. “Illegal logging in Peru clearly persists, and strong enforcement of our agreement by the U.S. government is critical to holding Peru accountable to its commitments. USTR’s action today, while long overdue, is an important step forward – and moves us closer to real change. I will continue to urge strong enforcement of our trade agreements.”

Representative Blumenauer has expressed serious concerns about the level of illegal logging that continues in Peru, and has called on USTR to aggressively enforce the U.S.-Peru trade agreement to help combat this problem. Representative Blumenauer has long fought to end illegal logging – authoring the 2008 Lacey Act amendment to make it illegal to import timber illegally sourced in the country of origin. He also developed the Timber Annex to the U.S.-Peru trade agreement and has consistently fought to include strong, binding environmental protections in trade agreements. He believes strong enforcement of trade agreements is critical to making sure these protections are real and authored the Trade Enforcement Trust Fund provisions in the recent customs reauthorization to ensure the resources for enforcement efforts are available.

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