| Trade Agreement Promises Delivered: Look to Chile! | The recently negotiated trade agreements with Peru, Colombia, and Panama are great deals for U.S. workers, farmers, and businesses. They are the latest in a series of trade agreements that are paying dividends for the American economy.
Trade is a motor for economic growth, and it generates high paying export jobs in both the United States and its trade partners. Consider these remarkable results from the Chile-U.S. Free Trade Agreement:
- U.S. exports to Chile rose by 150%, or $4 billion, in three years, reaching $6.8 billion in 2006.
- Individual companies have seen even more impressive gains. Caterpillar, for instance, has seen U.S. exports to Chile triple for some of its product lines.
- Chilean exports to the U.S. have increased a whopping 158% after implementation, from 2003-2006.
- Boosted by trade over the same period, Chile's per capita income rose by 83%, and unemployment fell from 8.1% in 2003 to 6% at the end of 2006.
Other recent trade agreements have borne similar fruits:
- Trade with Jordan has risen five-fold since the U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement was signed in 2000, fostering the creation of tens of thousands of jobs in a country that is a close ally of the United States.
- The U.S. trade surplus with Singapore nearly quintupled over the first three years of implementation of the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (2004-2006), reaching $6.9 billion last year.
- Implemented in January 2005, the free trade agreement with Australia helped boost U.S. exports down under by 25% in just 24 months.
The trade agreements with Peru, Colombia, and Panama promise the same kind of benefits for both parties through the proven comprehensive, high-standard approach to trade of these earlier agreements. Don't leave economic opportunity on the table, support the Latin America Trade Promotion Agreements!
Trade agreements are working for U.S. workers, farmers, and businesses!
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|  | |  | | Did you know?
| | | In the first year of implementation, U.S. exports to Chile leapt past International Trade Administration estimates of 18-52% over the first 12 years. Total export growth reached an impressive 33% in 2004, 43% in 2005, and an additional 38% in 2006. All told, U.S.-Chile trade has surged by two-and-a-half fold in just three years!
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| | | | Overheard
| | | ''A commercially-meaningful FTA that can expand upon the ATPDEA will be beneficial to U.S. apparel and
footwear companies and their suppliers, U.S. consumers, and the countries of the Andean region. It can
turn the current unilateral import preference program into a full-fledged and reciprocal export/import
trade partnership.''
Kevin M. Burke
President & CEO, American Apparel & Footwear Association
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