Creating American Jobs by Expanding Free and Fair Trade
In an effort to put more money into the pockets of hardworking Americans and to make our businesses more competitive, we must support a system of free and fair trade.
The Chamber's International Division and lobbyists will build support for congressional approval of pending free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea; work for a breakthrough in the Doha Development Agenda negotiations; and ensure that current trade agreements are strictly enforced.
We will seek new investment and tax treaties to protect investor rights; work for Russia's accession to the WTO under commercially viable terms; and encourage measures to enhance consumer safety in the global economy. The Chamber will also expand the TradeRoots program--our grassroots trade advocacy initiative that brings a positive, fact-based message to local communities.
And the Chamber will continue to fight federal and state measures that would punish companies that choose to source globally and will advance modernized export control rules.
We will also address the overly complex, expensive, and often protectionist market-distorting regulations enacted by nations in Europe, Asia, and the Americas--including the United States. And the Chamber-run Center for International Private Enterprise will lay the foundation for market-oriented reforms and private enterprise in emerging markets around the world.
While the overwhelming majority of Americans benefit from global engagement, we should modernize and improve the Trade Adjustment Assistance Act to support dislocated workers.
Expanding trade under fair rules has the potential to create hundreds of thousands of high-paying American jobs. Enacting isolationist policies would rob our workers of job opportunities and reduce family income by raising prices on almost everything we buy and use every day.
|