Secretary's Speech

Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez
Remarks at the Consumer Electronics Association “America Wins with Trade” Bus Tour
Washington, D.C.

Thank you very much and I want to thank the members of Congress who are here and providing great leadership on this issue, and welcome the American Wins with Trade Tour to Washington. Trade continues to be the bright spot in our economy today.

I n 2007, our country exported a record of $1.6 trillion dollars. That’s 12 percent of our economy. It’s a larger number than ever before in our history. We’re on track to exceed that. Through May our exports are up over 18 percent. In 2007, 17 percent of U.S. exports were advance technology products, and we know that this industry here today that’s represented by this tour employs more than 4.4 millions people. So it’s important for jobs…it’s important that we continue to export.

Free trade agreements are the best tools we have to open up markets. There are three Free Trade Agreements pending in Congress today—Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. These free trade agreements should be passed with the same sense of urgency as we did the stimulus package. These free trade agreements are also stimulus for our economy. Take Colombia for example: Congress has given Colombian goods duty free access to our country for 16 years, but our goods to Colombia pay duties. In fact, since the Colombian free trade agreement was signed over 600 days ago, our exporters have paid almost $1.5 billion dollars of tariffs that they would not have to pay if this agreement were in place.* There is no excuse for not passing this agreement.

President Bush has implemented free trade agreements with 11 countries. If you look at the numbers with those countries, we had a surplus of $3.8 billion dollars with those 11 countries. Today we have a $21 billion dollar surplus with those countries with which we have implemented Free Trade Agreements in 2007. So we need more Free Trade Agreements, not less. Free trade agreements are good. Free trade agreements are good for jobs, are good for exports, are good for the economy, and there’s no excuse to not pass these agreements now.

The world is negotiating literally hundreds of agreements as we stand here today. China is negotiating market access agreements. The European Union, Mexico, Canada, Chile, just about every country in the world is trying to negotiate as many Free Trade Agreements as possible so they can give their workers, their manufacturers access to countries around the world, and we are standing still. So the world is passing us by and we are literally being left behind, because Congress isn’t willing to act, because there are those who believe that our future is in a policy of economic isolationism. That would be a terrible mistake for our economy, for our people, for workers, for businesses, for farmers, for entrepreneurs.

So the best thing we can do now is to pass these free trade agreements and start with Colombia. Congratulations to the CEA for their leadership and for hosting this wonderful tour. Thank you.

*Actual estimates are closer to $1.2 billion.