Chamber of Commerce, NFTC Praise FTA Impact on US Economy
U.S. free trade agreements are giving U.S. producers and consumers far easier access to global inputs as well as foreign markets, and the U.S. must stay committed to closing the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other trade pacts, said the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in a trade report released on Feb. 12 (here). U.S. FTAs are integrating U.S. industry into a global supply chain, while boosting domestic manufacturing, said the report. U.S. agriculture is also reaping the benefits of U.S. FTAs through increasing exports abroad, the chamber said.
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The U.S. is losing market access share in the Asia-Pacific across a number of sectors, but TPP can potentially restore profitable market access opportunities for U.S. companies in the region, said the chamber. “In trade talks, whenever one party excludes a given commodity or sector from an agreement, others follow suit, limiting its reach,” said the report. “For the United States to achieve the goal of a true 21st century agreement—with state-of-the-art rules on digital trade, state-owned enterprises, investment, and other key areas—its negotiators must hold fast to the goal of a comprehensive accord.” Trade Promotion Authority is necessary to land that agreement and others, said the chamber.
Meanwhile, National Foreign Trade Council President Bill Reinsch echoed those arguments in a blog post on Feb. 12. Trade critics are waging a war against TPA and TPP, but the reality is the employment and wealth impacts of FTAs are complex, said Reinsch.
The apocalyptic scenarios critics point too are overblown and selective, and facilitation of imports often fuels jobs in the U.S., he added. “It is certainly true that trade agreements have cost jobs, and the new agreements being negotiated will probably do so as well, but they also create jobs, and we should look at the net result rather than focusing on only one side of the equation,” said Reinsch in the blog (here). “For example, we know that the Generalized System of Preferences program that cuts tariffs on key imports from developing nations supports 82,000 U.S. jobs, and its expiration has led to small businesses across the country cutting jobs and deferring new hires.”