U.S. Chamber Hails Passage of Free Trade Agreements

‘A Victory for American Workers, American Competitiveness, and American Leadership,’ Says Donohue

WASHINGTON D.C.—The U.S. Chamber of Commerce hailed the bipartisan Congressional approval of the trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama and urged the president and lawmakers to build on it with an aggressive new trade agenda.

“Passing these trade agreements represents a victory for American workers, American competitiveness, and American leadership,” said Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber. “It means we will immediately stop losing jobs to our competitors who have cut their own deals and we can start creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs for Americans.”

“At a time when many people think Washington is broken, members of Congress from both parties and the administration put American jobs first by making these trade agreements a reality,” Donohue said. He commended House Speaker John Boehner; Representatives Dave Camp, Kevin Brady, and Steny Hoyer; Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Senators Max Baucus and Orrin Hatch; as well as President Obama, White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, and Ambassador Ron Kirk for successfully carving a path forward to complete the trade agreements.

“Let’s make the approval of these agreements a foundation for moving bipartisan, job-creating policies forward,” Donohue said. He urged lawmakers to build on passage of these agreements with an aggressive new trade agenda, including swift negotiation of a Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.

Likewise, after returning from his second trip to Europe in as many weeks, Donohue emphasized the need to explore possible trade agreements with our largest economic partner, including the possibility of eliminating all tariffs on U.S.-EU trade. This could boost transatlantic trade by $120 billion over five years.

“With the most productive workers and the most innovative companies in the world, the United States should look on these agreements not as the finish line but as the dawn of a new era for American companies to compete and win in global markets,” Donohue said.