WHEREAS, Americans are deeply concerned with job creation, economic stability, and expanding economic prosperity throughout the United States, and;

WHEREAS, international trade is a critical engine of growth for the U.S. economy, and;

WHEREAS, in 2023, the U.S exported $3.05 trillion in goods and services, and goods and services exports accounted for 11.6 percent of our Gross Domestic Product in 2022, and;

WHEREAS, studies show that post-World War II trade liberalization has raised annual incomes by $1 trillion, or $10,000 per American household, and export-related jobs pay 16 percent more than the American average job, and;

WHEREAS, many of these jobs depend upon continued access to foreign markets and increased openness of those markets, and;

WHEREAS, U.S. goods and services exports supported more than 9 million jobs in 2021, and according to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) manufactured goods exports have more than doubled over the last decade; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. has implemented free trade agreements with 19 countries since 2001 as a result of the authority granted to the President by the Trade Act of 2002 and TPA reauthorization in 2015 including most recently the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA), and;

WHEREAS, current U.S. FTA partners account for only 10 percent of world GDP, but purchase 40 percent of U.S. exports, and;

WHEREAS, over the last decade, the U.S. ran trade surpluses most year with its FTA partners, and;

WHEREAS, in 2019, American intellectual property directly supported 47.2 million US jobs and trade agreements are an indispensable tool to secure the intellectual property rights of America’s innovative industries overseas, and;

WHEREAS, without trade promotion authority the ability of the U.S. to continue to expand and open markets around the world and to establish and enforce fair and transparent international trading rules would be seriously constrained and U.S. businesses and farmers would lose market opportunities to foreign competitors, and;

WHEREAS, from 1974, every U.S. President has received trade promotion negotiating authority from Congress,

NOW THEREFORE LET IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED, that the State/Commonwealth of (Insert State) urges the U.S. Congress to enact the appropriate legislation to grant the President trade promotion negotiating authority.

Approved by the ALEC Board of Directors on October 11, 2014.

Amended and re-approved by the ALEC Board of Directors on August 30, 2024.