America should continue to lead on trade

The conversation around trade promotion authority and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has grown more passionate in recent weeks, as a growing number of elected, business, and community leaders prepare for Congress to take up the issue. While it’s clear questions remain about some details of this groundbreaking trade agreement, one thing all parties should be able to agree on is that trading U.S. goods supports U.S. jobs – and America should be leading the way on this issue. 

At the local level, free and fair trade can have a dramatic impact on the economy – but it takes a commitment to engaging opportunities both overseas and here at home. Over 7 years as mayor of Dallas, I led our city to embrace a 21^st century economy, looking to new markets and boosting exports beyond our borders to strengthen the many businesses small and large that call Dallas home. I crossed the globe on trade missions and leveraged relationships with a number of countries and regions – including Mexico, Canada, China, France, Italy, Spain, and Africa. Today, I am proud to say that Dallas is one of the fastest-growing cities in America, and trade is a major player in the story of our city’s success. In fact, in 2013, the Dallas-Fort Worth area was exporting more than $27.6 billion in goods and services to markets around the world. 

{mosads}Nationally, trade has an outsized and growing role in the American economy. Last year, the U.S. exported goods and services worth $2.35 trillion – supporting more than 11 million American jobs. In fact, since 2009, fully one-third of our economic growth has been due to increased exports. At a time when the middle-class is shrinking and good-paying jobs that can support a family are few and far between, export-related jobs offer a rare bright spot – paying up to 18% more than non-export jobs. That means more and better-paying jobs for hardworking Americans right here at home.

Now we have the opportunity to do even more to shore up American jobs, by giving the president the trade promotion authority he needs to complete important trade deals – like the TPP. Of the estimated 11 million jobs already supported by American exports, 1.5 million are supported by trade with one of the twelve countries that are party to the TPP agreement. By passing this historic agreement, we have the opportunity to expand trade even further, supporting thousands of jobs: in fact, every $1 billion in exports supports between 5,200 to 7,000 jobs here at home. What’s more, the nonpartisan Peterson Institute found that TPP would expand U.S. exports by $123.5 billion, translating to an increase of $77 billion in real income for Americans by 2025. 

Critics of the TPP have expressed concerns about the transparency of negotiations. While I agree we should work to make this process as open as possible, we also have to balance the need for participating nations to negotiate in good faith – that means ensuring enough discretion that every country can lay their cards on the table. It’s thanks to this measured approach and President Obama’s leadership that we have been able to bring a dozen countries to the negotiating table, comprising more than 40% of the global economy. With strong safeguards for workplace safety, wages, and the environment, this agreement will make sure that the United States continues to lead on trade while deepening our ties to our partners around the Pacific. 

Expanding free and fair trade will not only support thousands of new jobs here at home – it will strengthen our position overseas. Since his first term in office, President Obama has made a clear commitment to the Asia-Pacific region, doubling down on our commitments with our allies while also working to forge new relationships in this critical part of the world. Passing the TPP will build on this commitment to our partners overseas and ensure the United States has a seat at the table writing the rules of the road for the coming decades, instead of leaving it to other countries to do it without us. In recent years, the Asia-Pacific region has seen nearly 200 new trade deals – and the vast majority of these agreements make zero commitments to labor rights or to environmental protections. Abandoning the TPP now would cede American leadership to nations with less interest in ensuring that workers are paid fairly and have safe workplaces or that communities can defend their clean air and oceans. 

Today, fully 95 percent of the world’s markets lie beyond our borders. We cannot afford to look inward while the rest of the world grows closer together – if we want to shape the world, we must engage in it. Giving trade promotion authority to the president will enable us to negotiate modern trade deals that guarantee a better future for American workers, while ensuring that the United States continues to lead well into the 21^st century.

Kirk was the 16^th U.S. Trade Representative, 2009 to 2013. He was the Democratic mayor of Dallas, Texas, from 1995 to 2002.