82 | Business World Magazine |
March 2014
The good news is that manufacturers can
change the status quo. The nation is paying
attention to manufacturing, and as a result,
our sector has a unique opportunity to turn
policymakers’ rhetoric into action on a num-
ber of key policy priorities.
Trade: Completing new trade agree-
ments are of the utmost urgency. As other
countries are aggressively entering into new
trade agreements, the United States is stand-
ing still, having failed to complete any new
trade measures since the 2011 agreements
with Korea, Colombia and Panama. Manu-
facturers need policies that would help them
enter and expand into new markets abroad
so they can reach the 95 percent of consum-
ers who live outside the United States. Al-
though the president has championed the
multiple economic benefits of exports – set-
ting ambitious goals like doubling exports
by 2015 – he needs to lead efforts to ap-
prove trade promotion authority (TPA), so
the administration and Congress can enact
new trade agreements efficiently. The pend-
ing Trans-Pacific Partnership, for example,
would boost U.S. exports significantly and
add jobs, yet could stall in Congress without
TPA.
