Today, Deputy United States Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis gave the keynote address at the Georgetown University International Law Center's International Trade Update. Ambassador Marantis spoke about the importance of international trade, U.S. trade policy, and touched on President Obama's new National Export Initiative. Read excerpts from his speech below, and the full speech here.
"We all see our trade policy in quiet realities of our daily lives - the jam we spread on our toast, the computers we use, the cars we drive, and the movies we see. But most importantly, I also see it the law students in the audience and at this university. The law students here are thinking about what awaits them not just at the end of their day, but at the end of their educational experience. They need jobs. They may have a spouse to support or a family to feed and clothe. With their diploma in hand, they may want to work for a big firm, help their family's business, or start their own practice. Whatever they choose, in a world more integrated and economically interdependent, their future paycheck has a good chance of depending on the international trade and economic policies this nation pursues.
"American jobs are the driver of the Obama Administration's policies - through trade policy, health care reform, and financial reform. Creating more well-paying jobs in America is the singular focus of President Obama, every member of his Cabinet, and every official in this Administration.
"American exports will be critical to the creation and support of new American jobs. President Obama has set a goal of doubling U.S. exports in the next five years - an increase that will support another 2 million jobs in America. Advancing new trade agreements and negotiating new market access will be central to reaching this goal as well as monitoring and enforcing the agreements we already have so that we obtain the market access benefits we have been promised. Also key is the new National Export Initiative the President announced in his State of the Union address. The President's National Export Initiative includes a newly created Export Promotion Cabinet, more funding for key export promotion programs, the mobilization of government officials to engage in export advocacy activities, the launch of export tools for small and medium sized businesses, the reduction in barriers to trade, and the opening of new markets.
"But here again, this important trade policy is part of a greater challenge. For no policy of global economic engagement can succeed without Americans engaged with the world. No program to create jobs will succeed if students do not learn everything you can to become as competitive and knowledgeable as you can be. No nation's policy that seeks to understand and navigate international economic challenges will succeed if its citizens do not seek to understand and embrace the world and the bigger picture as well.
"The reach of America's trade policy touches Swaziland, Malaysia, China, Indonesia, and Japan, and more than 100 other nations around the world. Our trade policy's significance touches many of the daily realities we take for granted. But trade policy's future successes begin and end with all of us - the students, the teachers, the policymakers, experts, and advocates."
