The Trans-Pacific Partnership Would Expand Market Access
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) offers tremendous opportunities for U.S. exporters. TPP members comprise a population of roughly 800 million and these dynamic economies generate nearly 40 percent of global GDP. The United States already has strong trade and investment ties to this region; we exported $697.8 billion in goods to all TPP markets in 2013, or about 44 percent of total U.S. exports, and are seeking through TPP to further deepen our economic relations.
Rhode Island Depends on World Markets
Rhode Island’s export shipments of merchandise in 2013 totaled $2.2 billion. Rhode Island exported $922 million annually in goods to all TPP markets (2011-2013 average). During this period, 41 percent of Rhode Island’s total goods exports went to the TPP region. The top three product categories exported to TPP-member economies in 2013 were chemical manufactures, waste and scrap, and primary metal manufactures.
Goods Exports Support Jobs for Rhode Island Workers Jobs supported by Rhode Island’s goods exports were about 17,000 in 2011 (latest available data) according to a USTR estimate based on U.S. Department of Commerce data. In 2011 (latest available data), 16.9 percent of all manufacturing workers in Rhode Island depended on exports for their jobs. Additional jobs also are supported by Rhode Island’s exports of services, although there are no available data on this.
Goods Exports Sustain More Than One Thousand Rhode Island Businesses: A total of 1,694 companies exported goods from Rhode Island locations in 2012 (latest available data). Of those, 1,503 (88.7 percent) were small- and medium-sized enterprises, with fewer than 500 employees.
Rhode Island Small and Medium-sized Firms Will Benefit From Trans-Pacific Partnership FTA Provisions
Small- and medium-sized firms generated over three-fifths or 63.2 percent of Rhode Island’s total exports of merchandise in 2012 (latest available data). Small- and medium-sized firms benefit from the tariff-elimination provisions of free trade agreements, as well as many of the other commitments in the agreement. Trade facilitation, for example, is vital to small- and medium-sized firms, as is enforcement of their intellectual property rights, streamlining of regulatory issues, and other commitments.
Note: The Asia Pacific Region is defined as APEC countries; TPP partner countries are Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.
Sources: U.S. Department of Commerce; U.S. Trade Representative.
