President's Call for Renewed Trade Promotion Authority

President's Call for Renewed Trade Promotion Authority

Sen. Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Committee on Finance, with jurisdiction over international trade, today made the following comment on President Bush's call on Congress to renew trade promotion authority for the president. President Bush called for renewal during a speech this morning on the economy. The Finance Committee was the Senate committee of jurisdiction when trade promotion authority was last renewed in 2002.

"I welcome the President's call for renewal of trade promotion authority. This should not be a partisan issue. Every President should have trade promotion authority. It's in our interest to open up new markets for U.S. exporters. We have the most open economy in the world. We benefit from that openness by lower prices and more consumer choices. The United States needs to keep opening markets that are closed to our exports. If we shut down trade promotion authority, we'll shut down new opportunities for our exporters. Trade promotion authority helps ensure that trade is a two-way street. I've started to hear more promising signals from some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. That leaves me a little more optimistic than I was. I hope those positive signals translate into concrete action over the next few months so we renew trade promotion authority before it expires on July 1st."

http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/grassley.htm