(Washington, DC) - Congressman Wally Herger, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, took part in a press conference today as part of the Consumer Electronic Association’s (CEA) seven-week “America Wins with Trade” bus tour.  The CEA includes over 2,200 companies, including Microsoft, Google, and Apple, as well as hundreds of small businesses.  The event was held to highlight the importance of trade agreements and the benefits they provide to American workers. 

Congressman Herger joined U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Korean Ambassador to the U.S. Lee Tae-sik, Congressman Jim McCrery, Ranking Member of the Ways and Means Committee, Congressman Kevin Brady, and Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn in speaking out about positive aspects of trade.  After the event, Congressman Herger issued the following statement:

“I commend CEA’s efforts to raise awareness of the importance of trade to our economy and the need to pass pending free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea.  U.S. businesses have an important opportunity to educate their workers about how important international trade is to their jobs.  They are best positioned to explain the significant role that trade plays in job creation throughout our nation.  Over 40% of our workforce – 57 million American jobs – is supported by trade and without it these jobs are at risk.  Because of this, we simply can not afford to isolate ourselves from the international market. 

“And more to the point, free trade agreements work.  They can reverse negative economic trends by opening up new export markets to U.S. farmers, manufacturers, and high-tech industries.  As a result of passing the Central American Free Trade Agreement three years ago, the U.S. has turned a $1.9 billion dollar trade deficit into a $3.7 billion trade surplus.  The pending agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea offer similar opportunities to open up new markets and grow our economy.  Millions of hardworking men and women across America deserve the opportunity to sell their goods and services abroad with the same favorable access other nations enjoy in the United States.  We must level the playing field for American businesses and workers, and I will continue to urge Congress to give pending free trade agreements the fair up-or-down votes they deserve.”