The NAM has been making the point for some time now that manufactured goods trade with current Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners is in surplus.  Our manufactured goods trade deficit is with countries that DON’T have FTAs with us.  It is amazing how many people have fallen for the myth that trade agreements are bad for us without bothering to seek the facts.

Third Way has just made understanding the facts easier.  They have come out with a terrific “infographic,” titled “Black is the New Red,”  that nails down the point that oil imports drive trade deficits: trade deals don’t.

Third Way’s graphic makes this point in an outstanding and instantly recognizable way. Everyone should look at it.  It reinforces what pro-trade agreement advocates know, and should be a real eye-opener for those who oppose trade deals because they think they are bad for American manufacturing and jobs.

Thanks, Third Way!

Also, it is important to know that the Commerce Department has begun posting the trade statistics with FTAs on their website www.trade.gov/fta .  Click on Trade Tables, at the left of the page.  The lower left hand part of page two of the trade tables shows clearly that we have a manufactured goods trade surplus with our current FTA partners.  As Third way points out, the overall balance with FTA partners is in deficit because of all the oil we get from NAFTA.

Frank Vargo is vice president for international economic affairs, National Association of Manufacturers.  

Today’s vote by the U.S. Senate to pass the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) is a major step forward in finally moving the stalled free trade agreements with Colombia, Korea and Panama. Those agreements — and new opportunities for growth of American manufacturing exports — have languished since 2006.

Meanwhile, our competitors in Europe, Canada, Japan, and other manufacturing powerhouses have continued to negotiate, sign and implement bilateral trade agreements that gain them preferential access to growing markets around the globe. Their manufacturing exports supplant and replace ours in market after market.

For a lasting economic recovery and job creation, increasing our manufacturing exports will be a key factor. The single easiest way to increase our exports is to lower tariff and non-tariff barriers in other countries. Trade agreements promote jobs and exports. President Obama has touted the job-creating nature of trade agreements repeatedly in recent weeks. He has asked Congress to pass the pending trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.

Now that the Senate has passed TAA, it is imperative that President Obama send the trade agreements to the House for approval. There is bipartisan support for all three in the House and Senate, and leadership has vowed to move quickly on passage. All we need is for the agreements to be transmitted. They should be sent immediately.

Doug Goudie is director of international trade policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

Today the Senate is continuing debate on legislation to extend the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) programs.  We expect the Senate to wrap up debate later today and then vote on final passage which will move us another step closer to being able to pass the three pending free trade agreements.

This morning the National Association of Manufacturers sent a Key Vote letter on the GSP/TAA bill to Senators urging them to support the bill.

Manufacturers support the extension of GSP, which provides preferential access to certain imports from selected developing countries. Last year, $23 billion of imports came into our nation duty-free under GSP, nearly three-quarters of which were raw materials, components, parts, or other inputs used to manufacture goods here in the United States. GSP reduces these companies’ input costs, making their products more competitive with their global counterparts. Moreover, it is estimated that nearly 82,000 U.S. jobs are directly or indirectly associated with the importation and use of GSP-eligible imports.

This evening the Senate will hold a cloture vote on the Generalized System of Preferences bill and the NAM has been urging all Senators to vote in favor of this bill which moves us another stop closer to passing the job creating free trade agreements with Colombia, South Korea and Panama. The GSP bill passed the house by voice vote on September 7^th and has always enjoyed bipartisan support.

Earlier today the NAM sent a letter to Senators urging their support:

The NAM views extension of GSP as important to advancing our nation’s manufacturing competitiveness and international leadership. It is also a vital step in the process of advancing the trade policy we believe is necessary to open markets for America’s manufacturers and to create jobs in the United States. The program, which expired on December 31, 2010, helps keep U.S. manufacturers and their suppliers competitive. The vast majority of U.S. imports using GSP are raw materials, parts and components, or machinery and equipment used by U.S. companies to manufacture goods in the United States for domestic consumption or for export.

Passage of the GSP bill will allow Congress to move forward with action on Trade Adjustment Assistance and on the free trade agreements once President Obama sends them to Capitol Hill, which we urge him to do as soon as possible.

The longer we wait to pass the agreements the more market share we lose to our competitors overseas. The facts are clear that these agreements will create jobs and provide a much needed boost to our economic recovery. Manufacturers need action now, we can no longer afford to wait.

Frank Vargo is vice president for international economic affairs, National Association of Manufacturers.

Senate Majority Leader Reid filed cloture this morning on the motion to proceed on H.R. 2832, the House-passed Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) bill.  He has scheduled a cloture vote for 5:30 on Monday on the motion, which will begin the process of attaching Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) to the GSP bill.

We applaud Senator Reid’s move today – he has set in motion a process that, essentially, will end with Congress considering and approving the three long-pending Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Colombia, Korea and Panama.

If all goes according to schedule, after several days of debate and a number of amendments, the Senate will pass the GSP/TAA bill and send it to the House. At that point, we expect that the Obama Administration will transmit the 3 pending FTAs to the House, which will – we hope – move to schedule votes on both TAA and the trade agreements.

The trade agreements will arrive in Congress under Trade Promotion Authority, which fast-tracks their movement and protects them against amendment. We would hope that by the first week of October, the House will have votes scheduled on  all four bills, and will then send the trade agreements to the Senate. We would further encourage Leaders Reid and McConnell to deploy all urgency and immediately schedule the trade agreements for a vote on the Senate floor.

Both TAA and the trade agreements have bipartisan and bicameral support. In this economic environment, it is crucial that these job-creating trade agreements be implemented as quickly as possible. The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) estimates the three FTAs will increase U.S. exports to Colombia, Korea and Panama by $13 billion annually, creating nearly 100,000 new jobs. Manufactured goods exports make up nearly two-thirds of total U.S. exports – so anything that boosts overseas sales will also boost our domestic production, output and employment.

In recent weeks President Obama, Speaker Boehner and Members of the House and Senate on both sides of the aisle have spoken urgently about the need to create jobs in America. Finally, with the imminent consideration of the long-stalled trade agenda, we’ll have some good news for America’s manufacturers and their workers. Pass the Colombia, Korea and Panama trade agreements, open those markets to American exports, and reap the benefits.

Doug Goudie is director of international trade policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

The Commerce Department, on its excellent website on Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), now lists exports, imports, and trade balances with our FTA partners.  Their FTA trade tables show that, contrary to anti-trade allegations, the United States has a manufactured goods trade surplus with our FTA partners.

The FTA trade tables show both total trade and trade in manufactured goods.  While total trade with FTA partners is in deficit, manufactured goods (shown on page two of the FTA Trade Tables) are in surplus.  Oil imports from NAFTA are the reason why total trade is in deficit – but oil imports don’t affect U.S. jobs negatively.  The United States needs more oil from friendly sources right next door, and NAFTA is our largest supplier of oil.

When anti-trade elements attack FTAs as costing U.S. manufacturing jobs, they are implying that the United States has a large and growing deficit in manufactured goods trade with FTAs.  This alleged deficit implies that imports from FTA partners grew faster than exports, hurting job opportunities.

But that is absolutely false, as the International Trade Administration’s FTA Trade Tables show.  The truth is that when it comes to manufactured goods, the United States has had a trade surplus with FTA partners for several years: $27 billion in 2009, $23 billion in 2010, and $21 billion for the first half of this year – implying a $42 billion annual rate of surplus for 2011.

The data show that manufactured goods exports to FTA partners have been growing faster than imports from them, which makes sense since our trade agreements have cut their trade barriers to us much more than we have cut our trade barriers to them.

The FTA Trade Tables show that we have a manufactured goods surplus with NAFTA so far this year amounting to $4.1 billion – a $8.2 billion annual rate; and a manufactured goods surplus with CAFTA of $2 billion – a $4 billion annual rate. (continue reading…)

Petroleum and manufactured goods dominated the U.S. trade deficit during the first half of 2011 according to data released today by the Commerce Department.

Of the $288 billion dollar goods and services deficit accumulated so far this year, the deficit in petroleum was  $169 billion and in manufactures was $213 billion – together they account for more than the entire deficit.  Partially offsetting these deficits were surpluses in services and agricultural commodities.

The petroleum deficit in the first half of 2011 was $32 billion larger than in the first half of 2010, and the manufactured goods deficit was up $38 billion.

Total U.S. exports of goods and services were up 16 percent over the first half of 2010, staying ahead of the 15 percent annual rate necessary to reach the goal of doubling exports by the end of 2014.  Manufactured goods exports, however, have slipped below this target rate, rising 12.8 percent over the first half of 2010.

Manufactures outperformed services, which grew only 9.9 percent.  Overall export growth was spurred by agricultural goods and mineral fuel exports. (continue reading…)

Yesterday Leaders Reid and McConnell released a joint statement annoucing they have agreed to a path forward for bringing the Colombia, South Korea and Panama free trade agreements and Trade Adjustment Assistance up for a vote.

Sen. Reid’s statement:

“My staff and Senator McConnell’s staff have been in discussions for weeks over the Trade Adjustment Assistance program and the three outstanding FTAs. We believe those discussions have provided a path forward in the Senate after we return for passage of the bipartisan compromise on the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, followed by passage of the three FTAs. I do not support movement on the FTAs, which I have never supported, until TAA has passed.”

Sen. McConnell’s statement:

“I agree with the Majority Leader that we have a path forward on TAA and the Free Trade Agreements. I have long supported passage of the long-delayed FTAs, and I know that I speak for many on my side of the aisle that we are eager to get moving and finally pass them. Although I do not personally support TAA, I know there is bipartisan support for this program.”

We also recieved an assurance from House Ways and Means Chairman Camp that the House will move forward with votes on the agreements and TAA when they return:

“Today’s agreement on a path forward in the Senate brings us one step closer toward enacting the long-pending, job-creating trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.  Every day that goes by, we lose more export and job opportunities to our European and Canadian counterparts, who have already entered into agreements with these countries.   Washington must act and act now; we cannot afford to let these trade agreements languish any longer.  As we’ve said repeatedly, the House is prepared to act on the three pending trade agreements and on Trade Adjustment Assistance, and I urge the Senate and the White House to be ready to walk down the path announced today in September.”

National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons released a statement noting this is a positive step forward which will lead to jobs:

Manufacturers urge Congress to pass all three agreements and Trade Adjustment Assistance. American workers are losing nearly $8 million a day in wages and benefits while the agreements remain stalled. We can no longer afford to wait, and we look forward to a vote in early September.”

The three trade agreements with Colombia, Korea, and Panama have been hanging around for four years. The U.S. Government has estimated that these three agreements could generate $13 billion in added exports on an annual basis. That’s a lot, especially when you add up the exports we could have been having over the past four years if these agreements had been in effect.

But it is not just the exporting companies that would have benefited. America’s workers would have benefited as well from the additional jobs, wages and benefits that would have been earned producing those exports.

How much has the delay cost American workers? The National Association of Manufacturers has calculated, based on Commerce Department data, that had those exports not been lost, by now American workers would have earned nearly $12 billion more in added wages and benefits. What’s worse — workers’ losses are mounting by nearly $8 million every day.

Click here to view our ticker and see and see how much more American workers are losing every day, every hour, every minute and every second.

One of the main reason’s American workers have lost this much in wages and benefits is because of the erroneous, though widely-held, view that trade agreements are the cause of the manufactured goods trade deficit. This is flat out wrong. In fact, the Commerce Department’s data show exactly the opposite — American manufacturers have a trade surplus with our trade agreement partners, a surplus that has cumulated to $70 billion over the past three years and so far this year is on track for a surplus close to $40 billion. (continue reading…)

Today twelve Republican Senators joined together to send a letter to  President Obama urging him to send up the Colombia, Korea and Panama trade agreements as soon as possible. They also stated they will support a separate Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA)  bill similar to the one negotiated by Chairmen Baucus and Camp and the White House.

From the letter: 

“In order to move this process forward, we commit to supporting cloture on the motion to proceed to such a TAA bill and cloture on the bill itself. We believe that the trade agreements and TAA should receive separate up or down votes on their merits.

We therefore urge you to sperate the pending trade agreements and TAA, and immediately submit the three trade agreements to Congress.”

Reaction from Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp:

“I applaud the action by my Republican colleagues in the Senate who have shown a path forward on TAA that should clear the way for the Administration to send the three job-creating free trade agreements to Congress.  I have said it before and I will say it again that if the Administration formally sends up the agreements to Congress without TAA, I will formally mark up those agreements and TAA on the same day.  I urge the Administration to move quickly and send these agreements because one thing is perfectly clear: we are already losing ground to our foreign competitors.  Reports show that EU exports to South Korea are already up nearly 20 percent in the handful of weeks since that agreement entered into force.  Those are contracts and relationships our workers and employers should have had a shot at.  Washington must act and act now; we cannot afford to let these trade agreements languish any longer.”

Each day that passes without a vote on these agreements we fall further behind our competitors. As Chairman Camp points out, the EU-S. Korea deal went into effect on July 1 and we can no longer afford to wait.