Updated TPA Will Deliver Clear Congressional Objectives in Trade Policy, Say Industry Leaders
Passage of a revised Trade Promotion Authority law will provide clear guidance on congressional objectives and help shape strategic trade policy vision as the U.S. continues to pursue “one of the most ambitious trade agendas in a generation,” said Doug Oberhelman, CEO of Caterpillar, in a McClatchy-Tribune News Service Dec. 26 opinion article (here). The legislation will also provide comfort to potential trading partners as the U.S. seeks to close the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, said Oberhelman.
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“In the coming weeks it is expected that Congress will introduce updated TPA legislation,” said Oberhelman. “Congress should seize the opportunity to shore up the benefits of current and future trade agreements -- increased U.S. investment, growth and jobs -- by passing updated TPA legislation.” Finance Committee and Ways and Means Committee leaders brokered a deal over TPA legislation in December (see 13122402). The legislation is necessary to reach the 96 percent of worldwide consumers that live outside of the U.S., said Oberhelman, noting Caterpillar exported more than $82 million in U.S. manufactured products in the past five years. U.S. exports represented 14 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2012 and grew more than twice as fast as GDP since 2002, said Oberhelman.
“Trade supports jobs and drives growth in every state, including Caterpillar’s home state of Illinois,” said National Association of Manufacturers Senior Director of Media Relations Jamie Hennigan in a Dec. 30 blog post that promoted the Oberhelman op-ed (here). “Since TPA was last renewed in 2002, Illinois’s annual manufactured goods exports have more than doubled to $63 billion. The 20 countries with which the United States has negotiated trade agreements under TPA purchased more than 55 percent of Illinois’s manufactured goods exports in 2012.”