Joseph Knollenberg: “Congress must pass trade promotion authority. International trade is an essential part of the U.S. economy. But when it…”

“Congress must pass trade promotion authority. International trade is an essential part of the U.S. economy. But when it comes to trade agreements, the U.S. is lagging behind significantly. Of the 130 preferential trade agreements that exist, the U.S. is a party to only two: NAFTA and a free trade agreement with Israel. That is it. The European Union has 27, 20 of which have been negotiated in the last 10 years. While the rest of the world is moving rapidly ahead, we are not. Canada, our neighbor to the north, has agreements throughout the southern hemisphere. There are currently over 12 million U.S. jobs that depend upon exports. American jobs that export goods pay up to 18 percent more than the U.S. national average. As we can see, trade agreements are a crucial element for the success of the U.S. economy. Remember, the jobs stay here; the products are exported overseas. Mr. Speaker, in order to get back in the game and develop a stronger economy, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting trade promotion authority.”