Trade is an essential component to economic growth and job creation. Trade creates new opportunities to sell goods overseas by opening markets to U.S. businesses. Trade liberalization has increased the real income of Americans by $1.3 trillion. Additional trade liberalization could increase that by another 50 percent. 

 

Exports are integral to economic growth. In 2008, American exports accounted for close to 7 percent of our total employment. Nearly 1 in 3 jobs supported by exports are manufacturing jobs. 

 

Notwithstanding the recent ratification of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, the broader trade agenda remains stalled. For the past 30 years, there was a bipartisan consensus in Washington that we should tear down barriers to trade. Yet today, trade agreements that would spur growth and create jobs still await government action. 

 

SOLUTIONS 

 

Congress and the President should start by approving all pending free trade agreements. Congress should also consider reauthorizing “fast-track” trade authority, which gives the President more authority to negotiate trade agreements. Finally, American businesses should be protected from unfair treatment abroad through aggressive enforcement of the trade agreements already in place.