Trade has been front and center on America's national stage these last few days - as much as it has ever been - with hearings and markups in both the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees. Today's quote is from yesterday's, April 21, Senate Finance Committee hearing. There were just two witnesses:
Tom Donohue, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and
Richard Trumka, the President of the AFL-CIO.
There were the usual opening statements from the Committee Chairman, Sen.
Orrin Hatch, from the Ranking Member, Sen.
Ron Wyden (D-OR), and from the witnesses. Then Chairman Hatch asked the first question. It was a question to Mr. Donohue and today's featured quote came out of that exchange. Here is our transcript of that first question and answer:
SENATOR HATCH:
Mr. Donohue, as you noted in your opening testimony, and as I've been saying for years now, since trade promotion authority expired in 2007, other countries, other competitors in the world marketplace, have not been sitting on their laurels when it comes to trade. Indeed, there are hundreds of free-trade agreements around the world that are currently in effect or under negotiation, and the U.S. is a party to relatively few of these agreements.
In your opinion, what's the cost to the United States if we refuse to pass new trade agreements while our competitors press forward with their own?
MR. DONOHUE:
Well, a long-term refusal - and we've been at it for a while - to pass new trade agreements will basically provide markets across the world to our competitors. It will cost American workers an ever growing number of jobs. It will have a measurable effect on the economy of the United States. And, it will make us far less significant in the geopolitical, economic affairs of the world.
This is the equivalent of going out and resigning from the rest of the world.
We're going to say that none of this is important in terms of how we get our children and grandchildren into the economic system.
We're going to say none of this is important in terms of what effect we are going to have on the general affairs of the world.
And most of all, Mr. Chairman, 95 percent of the people - and we all agree to this - that we want to sell something to don't live in the United States.
That's no reason to put together agreements that are totally irresponsible. But it is a reason to get out there in the marketplace and compete, as we have since our founding.
A failure to compete is a resignation from the global economy, and the result would be one of the great tragedies of our time.
