Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger have written an op-ed published in today's Wall Street Journal citing the benefits of free trade for the American economy.
Opening markets and lowering barriers for U.S. exports creates jobs, spurs innovation, and gives our economy a competitive edge. Consumers also see the benefits -- they get a greater variety of higher-quality goods at lower prices. Free-trade agreements (FTAs) -- including those now pending before Congress with Colombia, Panama and South Korea -- solidify our relationships with key allies and level the trade playing field by lowering export barriers to American businesses, workers and farmers. Congress should approve these FTAs this year.
Most Americans aren't aware that the South Korea agreement is the most economically significant FTA outside of North America in U.S. history. Korea is California's fifth-largest export market. The Los Angeles metropolitan area alone exported $2.6 billion in chemicals, computers, machinery and other products to South Korea in 2006.
Unfortunately, Congress has scuttled a vote on the first of the three FTAs, the Colombia agreement. Who gets hurt by this? American workers. Why? Because open trade provides more markets for the products they make, and because Congress has already given Colombian exporters duty-free access to the American market for more than 16 years. In the 538 days since the agreement was finalized, American exports have faced more than $1 billion in Colombian tariffs. All the FTA with Colombia does is provide American goods the same access Congress already gives Colombia.
Yet in the global trading system, America isn't just a buyer and seller, we're a huge investment magnet. That giant cash register sound you're hearing is the nearly $200 billion pumped into U.S. businesses from abroad in 2006 alone. Foreign-owned companies operating in the U.S. employ more than five million Americans, and a third of foreign direct investment is in the manufacturing sector. For the 8,000 Hitachi employees here in California, some of whom we will visit today, and the other 8,000 spread across the U.S., foreign investment is a no-brainer. ...
America is a launching pad for courageous creativity, with bold entrepreneurs churning out innovation after invention after idea. We're one of the wealthiest nations on earth because our society fosters companies like Intel -- co-founded by Andy Grove, an immigrant -- whose business model is driven by access to global markets.
It's true, we're currently facing economic headwinds. While the bipartisan, $152-billion economic stimulus package will help, families are feeling pinched between energy costs, the housing crisis and rising food prices. These are complex issues without easy fixes. But there's an apt saying that will be on our minds as we talk to workers in Torrance today: "Fix the right problem." Because we're immigrants, we have seen firsthand what works here, and what does not work overseas. To us, it is clear that stifling foreign investment, taking a trade "time-out" that hurts U.S. exports, or turning away from the ideas and energy of immigrants, won't help America grow and prosper.
Free trade drives economic growth, increasing foreign investment and creating new jobs for Americans. Free trade agreements, like the one before Congress with Colombia, help level the playing field for the United States and keep our economy growing strong.