Outside Washington, Democrats are onboard for trade

Congress will soon decide whether to give President Obama the power to negotiate modern trade deals that would expand economic opportunities for working Americans. The media to date has focused on the heated debate in Washington over the past several months, including within the Democratic Party. But the conversation beyond the Beltway paints a much different picture. Outside Washington, Democrats overwhelmingly support trade. 

The evidence is decisive. A recent poll conducted by The Wall Street Journal and NBC found that support for free trade is growing among Americans nationally. And a poll commissioned by the Progressive Coalition for American Jobs found that 89 percent of Democrats agree that trade is important for our economy – and a strong majority of them trust President Obama to represent their values on trade. These results are not surprising.  

{mosads}It’s no wonder Democrats trust President Obama to fight for policies that support the middle class. He’s been a champion for equal pay for equal work – the first bill he signed into law after taking office was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 16 million Americans now have access to affordable health care, many for the first time in their lives. He has spent his career and his time in the White House fighting on behalf of middle class families, including by advocating for raising the minimum wage. 

Across the country, a growing number of Democrats are making clear they believe that trade is crucial to America’s economic prosperity. And over the course of my career in public service, I’ve seen firsthand the impact that trade can have on the economy. That’s why I signed one letter with other former chairs of the Democratic National Committee and another letter with 13 former governors calling on Democrats to support giving President Obama trade promotion authority – including governors from five big industrial states: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Massachusetts. 

Free and fair trade allows us to create and support good-paying jobs here in the U.S. – and the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership has the potential to increase real income by $77 billion annually by 2025. 

Pennsylvania is a great example of how supporting trade can lead to dramatic economic results. When I became governor, I created World Trade PA. We placed 56 trade representatives from Pennsylvania in foreign countries – the most of any state. And we were the only state to have a trade representative in Indonesia, which has the fourth largest population in the world. We invested heavily in advising Pennsylvania-based companies – especially small and mid-sized companies that today comprise 98 percent of exporters – on how to negotiate foreign trade. This included everything from dealing with customs to understanding laws in different countries. Over eight years, Pennsylvania’s exports nearly tripled, from $14 billion to $40 billion. 

In many ways, Pennsylvania is a microcosm of America. Tens of thousands of companies and small businesses in Pennsylvania rely on trade and nearly 200,000 jobs were supported by these businesses just last year. These are companies like PDC Machines of Warminster, a second-generation family-owned and operated business that manufactures high-pressure compression equipment in the gas and chemical industries. Their business has grown to include customers in Vietnam, Malaysia, and Japan. Exports to these countries accounted for millions of dollars in sales for just one local company. 

Companies like PDC Machines are proof that when it comes to trade, what happens at the negotiating table has a direct impact on the kitchen table. The numbers are encouraging: every one billion dollars in exports supports between 5,200 and 7,000 jobs. And export-related jobs pay 18 percent higher than non-export related jobs. When we open the door to more trade, we will see the results in our cities and small towns, with better jobs for American workers. 

More broadly, trade has the potential to reach far beyond our economy. Trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership will include safety regulations for workers globally and provisions to curb child labor and set fair wages. And it will take unprecedented steps to safeguard the environment. We must remain in the driver’s seat when it comes to upholding these critical standards. 

I stand with my fellow Democrats who recognize the critical role that trade plays in our economy and trust President Obama to negotiate an agreement that will leave us better off as a nation than we are right now. When 95 percent of the world’s markets lie outside our borders, the potential economic benefits for expanding free and fair trade are clear. If America doesn’t lead on trade now, we risk letting other countries write the rules without us. 

Rendell was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1999-2001. He served as the 45^th governor of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2011 and was mayor of Philadelphia from 1992 to 2000.