WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he wants to double exports over the next five years, supporting 2 million American jobs. The doubling is doable; the job increase is debatable.
“The more products we make and sell to other countries, the more jobs we support right here in America,” Obama said in one of the few instances of his State of the Union address last week where he received hearty applause from Republicans.
Obama outlined several paths to expanding exports: his administration is launching a national export initiative to help farmers and small businesses who want to sell their goods abroad; it is working to reform export control laws that stifle sales of technology that might have military uses; and it is pushing both international and bilateral free trade agreements.
Business groups and pro-trade Republicans are waiting to see if Obama translates his words into actions, but achieving a doubling of exports, assuming some consistency in the global economy and currency exchange rates, is certainly possible.
Exports of goods and services nearly doubled in the 1990s, and nearly doubled again more recently, going from about $1 trillion in 2003 to more than $1.8 trillion in 2008, according to the Census Bureau Foreign Trade Division.
Whether a new surge in exports will translate into more jobs for Americans is a more complicated question. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that finalizing a free trade agreement with South Korea alone would lead to 200,000 American jobs.
And a report by the Milken Institute sponsored by the National Association of Manufacturers concludes that increased exports from modernizing export control law could boost the GDP by $64 billion by 2019, creating 160,000 manufacturing jobs.
But Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, said potential jobs from more exports are negated by job losses resulting from increased reliance on products purchased from abroad. In the same 2003-2008 period when exports increased to $1.8 trillion, imports grew from $1.5 trillion to $2.5 trillion.
“Unless they figure out how to limit import growth, all they do with 2 million jobs is have less net job loss from trade,” she said.
Obama called for strengthened trade relations with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.
But since becoming the majority party in Congress three years ago, his fellow Democrats, backed by their union supporters, have refused to act on separate bilateral trade agreements signed by the Bush administration with the three countries. They insist that human rights concerns in Colombia and South Korean restrictions on U.S. autos must be dealt with first.
Obama returned to the topic last Friday in a discussion with House Republicans in Baltimore, acknowledging that there are “fissures” in both parties about the benefits of expanded trade.
“My hope is that we can move forward with some of these trade agreements having built some confidence ... among the American people that trade is going to be reciprocal, that it is not going to just be a one-way street,” he said.
Prospects are probably better for lifting some national security-based controls on U.S. exports.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, D-Calif., last week played host to several top administration officials, including National Security Adviser Jim Jones, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, to discuss how to overhaul export control law that hasn’t been updated since 1979.
“The earth has moved beneath our feet” since the last overhaul, said John Murphy, vice president for international affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The United States still requires licenses on technologies and products that might have some military application that are widely available on global markets from foreign competitors, Murphy said. “It’s doing nothing to keep technologies out of the hands of others.”
Berman said bipartisan legislation will be ready by early spring for his committee to consider. Current regulations now fill more than 2,000 pages, he said at an earlier hearing at Stanford University. “You practically have to have a Ph.D., or a law degree, or maybe both, in order not to run afoul of the increasingly complex U.S. export controls regime.”
National News
<img src=" http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/monday.gif" border=0> Obama export goals doable, job creation tougher
- National News
-
-
Obama budget predicts $1.3T deficit for 2012
The White House on Friday confirmed a report that President Barack Obama’s new budget predicts a $1.3 trillion deficit for the ongoing fiscal year. The deficit would drop to $901 billion next year under the administration’s tax and spending policies.
-
Navy names littoral combat ship after Gabrielle Giffords
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced Friday that the next Independence variant littoral combat ship will be named after Gabrielle Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman who survived being shot in the head last January when a gunman opened fire as Giffords met with constituents outside a Tucson grocery store.
-
Under fire, Obama adjusts his birth control policy
Under fierce election-year fire, President Barack Obama on Friday abruptly abandoned his stand that religious organizations must pay for free birth control for workers, scrambling to end a furor raging from the Catholic Church to Congress to his re-election foes
-
They’re back: Social issues overtake US politics
All of a sudden, abortion, contraception and gay marriage are at the center of American political discourse, with the struggling — though improving — economy pushed to the background.
-
Requirements for consumer health insurance summaries unveiled
The Obama administration has unveiled final regulations detailing the new summaries that the 2010 federal health law requires health insurance plans to give to consumers to help them make informed coverage choices.
-
Want an aisle seat? Not for $2,000, Ralph Nader tells American Airlines
As if bankrupt American Airlines didn’t have enough problems, along comes consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who’s really steamed that for a flight Saturday to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, the only way for a non-frequent flyer to get an aisle seat was to pay a full $2,680 fare instead of the $700 price he’d already paid.
-
Canadian family members rescued from Pacific ocean
Three family members attempting their first voyage across the Pacific in a sailboat were left adrift in rough seas hundreds of miles from land when their mast broke in high winds.
-
House passes ethics bill after deleting one key section
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill Thursday to curb insider trading by members of Congress and the executive branch, but not without the usual political acrimony that’s become a staple of Capitol Hill.
-
State Department cleared of conflict, not ineptness on Keystone pipeline
An internal audit cleared the State Department of major missteps and conflicts of interest in its environmental review of the Keystone XL pipeline, but faulted the agency for its lack of scientific expertise and for not adequately considering alternate routes.
-
Leaving ’No Child’ law: Obama lets 10 states flee
It could be the beginning of the end for No Child Left Behind.
- More National News Headlines
-
Obama Scraps Birth Control Mandate
US Airmen's Killer Sentenced to Life in Germany
Navy Names Ship for Gabrielle Giffords
Raw Video: Deadly Blasts in Syria
Romney Slams President Obama at CPAC
Gingrich: Pres. Obama 'waging War on Religion'
5 Killed in Wrong-way Crash on I-10 in La.
Uzbek Man Pleads Guilty in Plot to Kill Obama
Denver's Largest-Ever Drug Bust Nets Dozens
Marines: No Punishment for Nazi-like Flag
Vets Look to Translate Military Skills Into Jobs
Raw Video: School Bus Burst Into Flames
LA School Reopens Amid Sex Abuse Scandal
$25B Settlement Reached Over Foreclosure Abuses
Pentagon: Allow Women Closer to Front Lines
LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens
Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life
Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal
Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service
Ga Girl Fights Off Kidnapper at Walmart
