Business Roundtable Calls for Prompt Renewal of Trade Promotion Authority

U.S. risks being left on sidelines of international economy without TPA

WASHINGTON, DC – On the eve of the expiration of the president's trade promotion authority (TPA), Business Roundtable called on Democrats and Republicans in Congress to work together for speedy renewal.

Without TPA, the U.S. faces the prospect of losing foreign market share to our global competitors and puts our position as the leader of the international economy at risk.

"If the Congress fails to renew TPA, the United States will be forced to watch from the sidelines as our toughest global competitors strike trade deals that could severely compromise the ability of our businesses, workers and farmers to compete in international markets," said John J. Castellani, president of Business Roundtable.

With 95 percent of the population outside our borders, there needs to be a greater appreciation in Congress for how trade is essential to growing the U.S. economy. Policymakers must recognize that through expanded trade, the U.S. creates new opportunities to sell products and services abroad; however, TPA is vital to this process.

"In the early 1990s, before new WTO and free trade agreements went into place, about one in ten jobs in the U.S were dependent upon trade," Castellani said. "With these agreements in place, the jobs tally has more than doubled; now more than 31 million – or 1 in 5 workers – are dependent on trade for their livelihood. The record is clear; trade agreements produce jobs for Americans."

Castellani pointed out that from 1994 to 2002, when the Congress let TPA authority lapse, the United States fell dangerously behind in negotiating important trade and investment agreements. During that same period other nations were able to negotiate a web of preferential agreements that put U.S. businesses, workers and farmers at a disadvantage.

Currently there are approximately 300 free trade agreements around the world and our international competitors are moving forward with many more new regional and bilateral negotiations that exclude the U.S.

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Business Roundtable (www.businessroundtable.org) is an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with $4.5 trillion in annual revenues and more than 10 million employees. Member companies comprise nearly a third of the total value of the U.S. stock markets and represent over 40 percent of all corporate income taxes paid. Collectively, they returned $112 billion in dividends to shareholders and the economy in 2005.

Roundtable companies give more than $7 billion a year in combined charitable contributions, representing nearly 60 percent of total corporate giving. They are technology innovation leaders, with $90 billion in annual research and development spending - nearly half of the total private R&D spending in the U.S.

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