Rob Portman Quotations

We believe that there is a way for us to get to yes and to come up with a successful conclusion to the round.

To move Doha to a successful and ambitious conclusion, we must all make contributions that includes services, manufacturing, agriculture and other areas of the round. We need contributions from developed countries like the United States, but also developing countries. Every country must do its part.

U.S. trade officials are working to make Hong Kong a success. The U.S. government is totally committed to Hong Kong.

We always come closer every time we talk.

We have a paralysis in Washington that's not serving our country. We have to address these issues.

Only 15 Democrats voted for it, but I talked with at least twice that many, and almost every conversation ended with, 'I want to work with you on the next one,' ... Having come from Congress, I want to reach out, and begin to rebuild what was once a fairly robust consensus.

Now we've got someone who is really hands-on and willing to assert himself more, which I think can be really positive.

People vote for the president, not the vice president. I think sometimes people that are in the veepstakes talk too much about this and certainly the media does. I don't think that it's that important.

Only days after we fully complied with a NAFTA decision, Canada responds by announcing huge new subsidies. Canada's actions illustrate what the United States has been saying all along: the Canadian industry is the beneficiary of subsidies that create an un-level playing field to the detriment of the U.S. industry.

On the heels of the G-20 and Australian offerings on sensitive products, we hope to see much more ambition from the EU. The current EU proposal allows for 8 percent of tariffs, 160 different tariff lines, to be deemed 'sensitive' and thus exempt from strong cuts,

I believe this kind of dedicated, country-specific enforcement team is needed to improve China's compliance with its obligations.

I have made clear that we can not accept a final package on the round that does not have a meaningful services element,

Ground Zero in the 2004 presidential campaign. ... I believe that, had Al Gore stayed in Ohio, he probably would have won here four years ago.

I would say unless we see offers from other countries, particularly the EU, on ... reducing tariffs, we will not be able to see a successful round,

Our talks today were frank, constructive and embraced the spirit of President Bush's challenge,

Overall, our U.S.-China trade relationship today lacks equity, durability and balance.

Pascal Lamy will bring a new aggressiveness to the job,

Malaysia has been at the forefront of the economic dynamism transforming Asia in recent years. This FTA would be the third we are negotiating in the economically vibrant and strategically important Southeast Asia region.

will allow the Japanese people to enjoy the benefits of the best and most innovative products available.

We've got some heavy lifting over the next three months,

Unfortunately, the EU member states have continued to grant new subsidies to Airbus, even as our WTO case proceeds. By taking this step, we are ensuring that the new subsidies will be included in our case.

We still do not know whether we would be able to have the framework we had hoped. We are both trying to do everything to get there,

We still believe that a negotiated solution is possible. But one way or another, the subsidies need to end.

The promotion of peaceful commerce with the region and among Middle East states will help end the political turmoil and economic stagnation that has for too long limited the opportunities for people in that region.

The facts on agricultural biotechnology are clear and compelling. It is a safe and beneficial technology that is improving food security and helping to reduce poverty worldwide. We believe agricultural biotechnology products should be provided a timely, transparent and scientific review by the European Union, and that is why Canada, Argentina and the United States brought the case in the first place.

We shouldn't be debating whether to deal with the current code by allowing it to be extended or not. We should have a president who shows leadership and comes to Congress and says: 'You know what? We need to reform this whole tax code.'

We should not be lowering the expectations, nor lowering the ambitions in the round, ... Hong Kong is not the end of process.

We ought to go out and find someone who has re-engineered, in my view, a major and complex organization from the private sector. I hope someone like that would be willing to step forward and take on this task.

We don't believe the world community will let this once-in-a-generation opportunity slip past us,

While we continue to believe that a long-term, durable settlement is the only way to resolve this dispute, Canada's actions complicate our attempts to reach a negotiated solution,

There is so much uncertainty out there, and the government in Washington doesn't seem to get it. What's needed is a new business environment.

We welcome the progress made today and will continue to press for additional steps to promote greater equity, durability and balance in the US-China trade relationship.

Do you agree with me that we can't afford four more years of Barack Obama?

The timing of these exercises ought not to be dictated by political concerns. We do not think this is something aggressive but appropriate...The issue has become ripe.

The United States is going to continue to fight for market access.

Despite three consecutive years of growing U.S. exports to China, our bilateral trade relationship with China today lacks equity, durability and balance in the opportunities it provides. The time has come to readjust our trade policy with respect to China.

As a mature trading partner, China should be held accountable for its actions and required to live up to its responsibilities, including opening markets and enforcing intellectual property rights. We will use all options available to meet this challenge.

This is his solution: He said all we need to do is take your tax dollars, send them to Washington, have Washington take out its cut, having Washington then send it back to the states, have the states then go out and hire public employees. Does that make sense to you? Is that how to get the economy moving?

This past year has been very turbulent for the Middle East, and my conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu strengthened my belief that we need to remain vigilant in our support of our critical ally.

This is win-win and good arrangement for both sides.

It is time for the EU to step forward (with an offer) or bear the responsibility for derailing the Doha Round.

The TV ads have been coming hot and heavy in Ohio. I think the Obama campaign has outspent the Romney campaign by two-to-one or three-to-one, depending on the analysis you look at. People are tired of the attacks already, and here we are in July.

The US is willing to take some pain,

It's not about sizzle for me. I think it's fine. I mean, America made a decision in 2008 to go with a president who did have sizzle.

I'm not giving up, ... We only have this opportunity once a generation.

In an increasingly integrated global market place we cannot afford to do anything other than be very aggressive in terms of market opening.

I'm seeing a little bit of a different spirit today. You see people coming together this morning as we discussed to say this ought to be a single-undertaking and we ought to work to bring all of these issues together including trade facilitation, development and rules into one package. Not you go first, then I'll go, but rather we need to do it simultaneously together.

I really wasn't expecting this (job) and I really didn't seek it, but it really does sort of fit in with my background.

I do believe that the promise of Doha hangs in the balance. I believe the time is too short for us to have wasted weeks, and I believe that unless we see progress soon, it will be very difficult to envision a successful Hong Kong meeting and a successful completion of the round at the end of 2006.

For the first time, I see real movement toward having a successful meeting in Hong Kong.

You could have another downgrade. You could certainly have a stock market reaction that would be negative. And, I think nobody who looks at it objectively would want to happen.

The German position is obviously going to be part of an overall EU position, in that they negotiate through the commission and not the member states, but it will take into account their own economic interests and Germany is the second largest exporter of manufactured products in the world.

The findings confirm that U.S. duties on Canadian lumber to counter were properly imposed under international trade rules,

An agreement with Peru is a key building block in our strategy to advance free trade within our hemisphere. We hope to later bring in the other Andean countries including Colombia and Ecuador.

The legislation that establishes the parameters for our negotiators is likely to be controversial again, so it's a risk to take it beyond the July 2007 date.

With the strong bipartisan rejection of the Dorgan amendment today, the Senate cast a vote in favor of the U.S. working to knock down unfair trade barriers that hurt American business and farmers

There has never been a campaign where there hasn't been sniping from the outside and second-guessing. I hear the same sometimes from the Democratic side in terms of President Obama's campaign, so that's to be expected.

I served at a time when we had a strong economy, when we had deficits that we would die for today. I was able to propose a balanced budget, not over ten years, but over five years. I'm proud of that record.

How does the weakness of the dollar affect your business?

I saw the government really using the excuse of a weak economy and a financial crisis to create more government and to push onto the American entrepreneurial society more and more restraints and government activity.

The reality is that until we can agree on a formula that reduces tariffs globally we cannot meet this Doha promise for development. In order to keep momentum post-Hong Kong, the European Union must be willing to move.

The problem is that this round from its inception has had agriculture at its centerpiece. The EU and the U. S. and other WTO members cannot wish that away, that is a reality.

That isn't how I've always felt. As a congressman, and more recently as a senator, I opposed marriage for same-sex couples. Then something happened that led me to think through my position in a much deeper way.

The way to an American economic comeback, the way to help those out of work today find a paycheck, is to unleash the forces of job creation in America. The source of new jobs isn't going to be the bureaucracies of Washington, but rather the creativity, ingenuity, and hard work of the American people.

Folks, do you agree with me that we cannot afford four more years of Barack Obama?

My concern about Barack Obama is he ran a campaign in 2008 where he said we're going to bring people together and solve big problems. And he specifically talked about the need to reach across the aisle and deal with issues like the economy, which was obviously the top issue in 2008. It has not happened.

I told my staff that I'm so boring that I didn't even know I was boring.

If you can't even acknowledge that you have to fix Social Security, that's not a very good starting point.

If you start very far to the left, it's harder to get to the middle.

When you tax capital gains income, you don't help the economy, you hurt the economy, which is why President Kennedy, President Reagan, President Clinton and President Bush all believed we should have a lower rate for capital gains.

I'm up here in Cleveland tonight and there are a lot of folks who are concerned about it. Twenty-five percent of the people up here get their health care through religious organizations and so that religious freedom issue is very important to them.

President Obama likes to talk about the Buffett Rule. Well, here's a Buffett Rule that all Americans should be able to support: mom and pop businesses should not pay a higher tax rate than Fortune 500 corporations like Warren Buffett's.

Instead of focusing on growing jobs and reigniting our economy, President Obama focused on growing government and tried to remake the United States into the image of the debt-laden countries of Europe. His approach has been more spending, more regulation, and higher taxes.

Things are not getting better. They are getting worse. We need to elect Mitt Romney to turn things around.

President Obama has been attacking relentlessly. In 2008 he said that if you're out of fresh ideas you use stale tactics against your opponent - you try and make your opponent unacceptable and that's what he is trying to do.

I'd like to think I'm a serious legislator and trying to get things done.

The tax code is now nine times longer than the Bible, and not nearly as interesting.

I think what people are looking for right now is not the kind of pizzazz and pop that perhaps we thought we got in 2008. Certainly, President Obama offered that. What they want now is someone who can work closely with Congress and get things done.

For all our current troubles, Americans are still the hardest working, most innovative people on the face of the earth. By trusting the American people, instead of government, we'll continue to surprise and inspire the world.

I have come to believe that if two people are prepared to make a lifetime commitment to love and care for each other in good times and in bad, the government shouldn't deny them the opportunity to get married