U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman was the sole witness at yesterday's, April 3, House Ways and Means Committee hearing on President Obama's Trade Agenda.  It was a long hearing, almost three hours, and it covered a lot of ground.  TPA, TPP, and T-TIP were arguable the top issues but numerous constituent concerns were covered as well.  Next week, we will revisit the April 3 hearing once or twice to look more closely at some of those issues. 

Today's quote was taken from an exchange between Ambassador Froman and  Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY), the dean of the New York Congressional Delegation and a former chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.  Here is a little more of that exchange:

CONGRESSMAN RANGEL:  When you say "trade" to a lot of Americans it means jobs.  Throughout your testimony you talk about not only creating jobs through exports but providing incentives for manufacturing.  Many people, including those in the Congress, believe that trade means we're losing jobs. 

So, it seems to me that in an agreement, an international agreement, everyone should walk away from the table believing that they did the best they could for their country. 

My question to you is, Do you have any idea as to - geographically, or industry-wide or service-wide - where these new jobs are going to be created?  And since we also have to deal with the retraining of workers that lose their job as the result of trade, could you give us some ideas of the areas that we expect to lose jobs as the result of this agreement?

AMBASSADOR FROMAN:  "Well, let me start by saying that, as you say, increasing exports supports more jobs here in the U.S.  But these trade agreements are also a key part of driving investment in manufacturing and other sectors in the U.S. I've been visited by several businesses, particularly from Europe, who've come and said, "The U.S. is a great market.  You've got the rule of law.  You're entrepreneurial .  You have a skilled workforce.  Now you have abundant sources of affordable, cleaner energy, which are giving the United States a comparative advantage, particularly vis-à-vis Europe.  When you complete these trade agreements - TPP and T-TIP - the U.S. will have free trade, will have unfettered access, to two-thirds of the global economy.  That makes the U.S. the production platform of choice.  It makes the U.S. the place where manufacturers want to put their next investment and produce stuff, not just for this market, but to send to Asia to Latin America, to Europe."

And so part of our trade policy is also to make the U.S. an even more attractive place to locate businesses, to manufacture, to use as an export platform ... .

On Monday, March 31, the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Dave Camp, a Michigan Republican, announced he will retire from Congress at the end of this term.  That fact was almost as much a part of yesterday's hearing as the trade agenda.  Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) led off with warm words of high praise for Chairman Camp, and member after member followed suit.  It was a marked and welcome change from the days when the Committee seemed all but paralyzed by partisan acrimony. As for the particular issues, we will, as we said, deal with some of them next week. 

Listening to Congressman Rangel posit the question above, it struck us as pointed, pertinent, but almost impossible to answer.  We were wrong on that last point.  Ambassador Froman's testimony yesterday was very impressive, and his response to Mr. Rangel was one of the highlights.

On this beautiful Friday afternoon, we'll leave it at that.