Hatch Touts Trade Gains, Public Support, as Wait for TPA Bill Continues
U.S. free trade agreements are boosting jobs, increasing U.S. exports and manufacturing production, and slashing trade deficits, said the Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah in a March 9 press release that draws economic analysis from various industry sources…
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(here). The U.S. landed its current FTAs through Trade Promotion Authority, said the release. Congressional staffers and observers say Hatch wanted to introduce TPA over recent weeks, but a disagreement with Finance ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has prevented that (see 1503040015). The release also points to a new Gallup poll that suggests most American “view trade as an opportunity to strengthen the American economy through increased U.S. exports,” said the Finance release. Compared to polling over the past two decades, more Americans now see trade as a way to boost the economy, said the poll analysis (here). “Opinion among the two party groups converged in 2014, but this year, Republicans' optimism about foreign trade is flat at 51 percent, while Democrats' has increased slightly, to 61 percent,” said the poll findings. “As the economy has improved significantly in the past year, it's likely that public fears about foreign trade have diminished, partly because of Americans' strengthening views of the U.S. economy.” The majority of Americans in both parties, including roughly 60 percent of Democrats, also support the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Gallup said.