On Wednesday, the Senate voted on whether to move to a final vote on a proposed treaty with Chile that relates to taxation issues — and 97 members agreed, effectively shutting out the two who formally registered their opposition with “no” votes. The two Senators voting “no” were Missouri Republican Josh Hawley and Kentucky Republican Rand Paul.
The treaty dates back to when Barack Obama was in office as president, and the agreement has been voted on by a Senate committee responsible for its consideration several times since that much earlier period. Descriptions of the treaty explain that it would help cut back on the extent of double taxation for U.S. businesses with operations in Chile, which would obviously also help, at least in general terms, the Chilean government by way of making the country more economically attractive for investment and expansion. (The U.S. tax rates on certain monies gained in Chile would be significantly lowered, roughly in line with similar treaties the U.S. has struck with other countries in South America.)
Provisions of the treaty would also help with U.S. access to the mineral lithium, which is mined in Chile and is used in the development of certain clean energy technologies.
It didn’t appear that either Hawley or Paul had issued recent official statements on their stances regarding the treaty, at least as much as was visible on their official Senate websites. It didn’t seem like either had tweeted recently about the issue, either, though reports say Paul has previously expressed concerns about information on U.S. individuals being made available to authorities in Chile under provisions of the arrangement. Hawley and Paul’s corner also often generally opposes an international approach that could in any way be perceived as not ultimately prioritizing the U.S. and essentially the U.S. alone. In other words, they tend isolationist.
The treaty will still need a final vote by the Senate, after which point the president’s signature will be needed for ratification in the U.S. Authorities in Chile provided their own evidently final approval for the deal before Obama even left office.
