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Good evening:

I wanted to be sure you saw the latest from the White House-- both the State of the Union excerpt and the fact sheet-- on the importance of trade agreements to our global competitiveness and economic growth. The President sees these agreements as essential for the U.S.-- not China-- to set the rules of the road and lead the way by establishing strong environmental, workplace and labor standards. Please feel free to circulate to key stakeholders and let us know how we can work together to illustrate why and how these agreements matter.

Best regards,
Bert

Bert Kaufman
Senior Advisor, U.S. Department of Commerce
U.S. Department of Commerce

---SPEECH EXCERPT---
"21st century businesses, including small businesses, need to sell more American products overseas. Today, our businesses export more than ever, and exporters tend to pay their workers higher wages. But as we speak, China wants to write the rules for the world's fastest-growing region. That would put our workers and businesses at a disadvantage. Why would we let that happen? We should write those rules. We should level the playing field. That's why I'm asking both parties to give me trade promotion authority to protect American workers, with strong new trade deals from Asia to Europe that aren't just free, but fair.

Look, I'm the first one to admit that past trade deals haven't always lived up to the hype, and that's why we've gone after countries that break the rules at our expense. But ninety-five percent of the world's customers live outside our borders, and we can't close ourselves off from those opportunities. More than half of manufacturing executives have said they're actively looking at bringing jobs back from China. Let's give them one more reason to get it done."


---FACT SHEET---
Promoting American Jobs and American Workers by Signing New Trade Deals So the United States, not China, Sets the Fair Wage, Safe Workplace, and Clean Environment Rules of Trade: President Obama is committed to a trade agenda that provides new opportunities for workers and supports economic growth by opening markets, enforcing high standards in our agreements, and leveling the playing field for our workers. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP), and other negotiations offer new opportunities advance this agenda, consistent with American interests and American values, including putting labor and environmental protections at the core of trade policy while creating jobs and protecting and promoting innovation. The President will call on Congress to work with him to secure approval of bipartisan trade promotion legislation- building on the 80 year bipartisan history of Democrats and Republicans working together to promote American exports and create jobs. As we work towards new trade deals that will expand markets for American goods and services, we will also work to ensure that the strong existing rules governing trade are enforced. That's why the President created an Interagency Trade Enforcement Center to bring all of the resources of government together to break down foreign barriers and hold our trading partners accountable. The Obama Administration has brought 18 cases before the World Trade Organization, more than any other country and we have prevailed in every case that has been decided.