Just one piece of brilliance and clarity!

An email response from President Obama on trade *Obama Group*

The White House, Washington


Dear {yallerdawg}:

Thank you for writing. My Administration is pursuing a trade agenda that will place our workers, farmers, manufacturers, and businesses at the center of the 21st-century global economy—one that promotes both our interests and our values. Trade done right is a critical part of my strategy to support well-paying jobs, spur growth, and strengthen the middle class.

With 95 percent of the world’s customers living outside our borders, our ability to access new markets is vital to our economic well-being. The export of American-made products supports millions of jobs here at home that pay up to 18 percent more on average than non-export-related jobs. Our businesses are dependent on selling their goods in a global economy—and 98 percent of the more than 300,000 companies that export are small or medium-sized businesses. However, even though more American businesses are exporting more than ever before, there is still an opportunity for new businesses to export and for existing businesses to reach new markets. Right now, we have a chance to level the playing field for American companies and support the middle class through high-standard trade agreements. To take advantage of that opportunity, we’re moving forward with the most progressive trade agenda in American history, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

In the Asia-Pacific region, we are working toward a TPP agreement that will knock down barriers that block American-made goods and services while promoting high standards in the fastest-growing region in the world, including the strongest enforceable labor and environmental provisions of any trade agreement in history. To protect our workers, we are pursuing an agreement that will require countries to set a minimum wage, protect the freedom to form unions and collectively bargain, and work to end child and forced labor. To preserve the environment, we are working to ensure that it will require countries to take tangible steps to curb wildlife trafficking, crack down on illegal logging, and prevent overfishing. That’s why conservation organizations like the World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy agree that the enforceable provisions in the proposed TPP represent a critical step forward for environmental protection.

Prior trade agreements, like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), have not lived up to their promise. Because it includes Canada and Mexico, the TPP agreement we are working on will renegotiate NAFTA and address past problems by including enforceable labor and environmental standards at the core of the agreement. This means that if our trading partners—including Canada and Mexico—are not playing by the rules, we can hold them accountable. The proposed agreement will also include new rules that make sure our businesses and property owners are protected from having property taken by foreign governments, while making sure foreign corporations can’t undermine or get around our own laws and regulations. Because we know that unfair currency practices by some governments hurt our workers, businesses, and farmers, we are working with Congress on new tools and standards that will make it easier for us to protect American workers and firms from unfair competition.

TPP also represents a strategic opportunity to pave the way for American leadership in the Asia-Pacific through joint economic goals and prosperity. We cannot stay on the sidelines while China and other countries, who may not have the same values that we do, write the rules of the road and drive down standards. We have to seize this opportunity to help American workers and businesses compete on a level playing field in the world’s largest markets in the decades to come.

To help us secure the benefits of TPP, Congress passed Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which I signed into law on June 29, 2015. This TPA is the most progressive we have ever had, ensuring that all future trade agreements, such as TPP, have enforceable protections for labor and the environment. We now have the leverage to bring home the best possible trade agreements for the American people.

The new TPA also mandates unprecedented transparency by requiring that any trade agreement be published online for 60 days before I sign it. Additionally, it ensures that Congress will have months to review, debate, and hold hearings on the details of the agreement before they vote on it. And while we have not yet finalized the TPP, the current agreement is available for all Members of Congress to read and review, and we have conducted over 1,700 regular briefings with them on the status of the negotiations and have provided similar briefings for labor groups, environmental groups, and other interested parties.

With a highly educated workforce, an entrepreneurial culture, strong rule of law, and abundant sources of affordable, clean energy, the United States has what’s required to be the world’s manufacturing hub. My Administration is working every day to help businesses locate, grow, and hire here so that our businesses ship goods all over the world stamped with Made in the U.S.A. The good news is that this is already beginning to happen—over the last few years, our manufacturers have been steadily creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in the United States for the first time since the 1990s. Good trade deals like TPP will help continue that trend and ensure jobs are not outsourced, but rather are created here at home. We will continue to push forward on these efforts because we know that when the playing field is level, American workers and businesses don’t just compete, they win.

Again, I appreciate your message. I am confident we can support job growth at home and boost exports while promoting our values and raising standards around the globe.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

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