Rep. Kevin Brady (TX) posted on the Foundry blog today. Read the following excerpt on "Trade Critical to the U.S. Economy":
When President Obama touches down in Pittsburgh for the G-20 Summit he has a chance to lead on trade policies that will level the playing field for American workers and small businesses.
Trade is critical to U.S. economic growth and vital to global economic development. Trade – especially exports – has been the one bright spot in our economy over recent years, accounting at one point for nearly 60 percent of our economic growth. Forty-two percent of American jobs depend on trade, and exports account for one in every eight dollars earned by Americans last year. Yet in the midst of this severe economic downturn, U.S. exports have declined by 20 percent – marking the worst decline in U.S. exports since World War II.
Unfortunately, President Obama has not focused on reversing this dangerous trend. Instead of moving forward on a strategy to open markets abroad to U.S.-made products, the Administration has indefinitely delayed laying out a trade agenda and has filled the void with isolationist measures. Earlier this year, the Administration and the Democrat Majority pulled the plug on a pilot program for Mexican commercial trucks without improving highway safety – causing the United States to violate our commitments and subjecting American exporters to $2.4 billion in retaliatory tariffs. Most recently, the White House announced that it will impose a union-supported 35 percent tax on Chinese tires without support from a single U.S. tire manufacturer. The impact of the new “tire tax,” effective this Saturday, will likely fall hardest on struggling American families that must now pay more for a necessity in life – with no assurance any more U.S. jobs will be created as a result. The Buy American provisions in the “stimulus” bill are contracting trade, restricting job opportunities for Americans, and clogging, rather than priming, U.S. economic recovery.