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Washington Office
233 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-2305
District Office
510 East Foothill Boulevard
Suite 201
San Dimas, CA 91773
Office (909) 575-6226
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International Trade

Trade has made California a global powerhouse. With a gross state product of nearly $1.5 trillion, and more than 1 in 12 Californians employed in export supported jobs, California is an example of free trade at work.

Strategically located astride the Asian Pacific-American trade route and linked to Latin America through regional free trade agreements, over the past decade California businesses and workers have led the nation in trade-related growth. Whether it be California high-tech products, films or agriculture, the state competes and wins when free trade provides new markets. Expanding global trade means economic growth for California and America.

Trade is more than an economic boon. Reaffirming our role as a global leader, American support for trade is support for freedom. Creating opportunity for entrepreneurs and encouraging the free flow of information, free trade is distinctly democratic and does much to further the creation of free and open societies.


As one of the House's leading advocates of international free trade, Congressman Dreier has made a top priority of expanding opportunities for American businesses and workers. Increasing access to foreign markets for American goods and services is a primary cause of the unprecedented economic growth that the U.S. economy has seen over the past two decades.

Reducing barriers to international trade allows unfettered access to new markets and new customers for American products, and Congressman Dreier has played aNAFTA member country flags key role in shepherding through Congress a number of the major trade agreements of the 20th and 21st centuries. For example, Congressman Dreier was a leading proponent of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which Congress approved in 1993. This groundbreaking agreement, which eliminated trade tariffs on goods and services traded between the United States, Canada, and Mexico generated over $120 billion dollars of export growth and contributed to a 38 percent increase in U.S. economic growth from 1994-2004.

Congressman Dreier's desire to eliminate barriers to American exports travels beyond North American shores as he was a vocal advocate of granting the People's Republic of China Permanent Normalized Trading Relations (PNTR), which Congress approved in 2000. Passage of PNTR allows China to join the World Trade Organization (WTO), which works to eliminate global barriers to the free flow of goods and services. Membership in the WTO obligates China to open its markets to American goods, enforce international intellectual property rights standards, and start playing by the rules of the international trade regime. Improved American access to the consumers of the world's most populous country and increased Chinese compliance with international standards in their trade practices represent a dual win for American values and American interests.

Congressman Dreier was a leader of the effort to successfully pass in the House of Representatives a well overdue piece of trade legislation known as Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) in December 2001. TPA (formerly known as “fast track authority”) allows the President of the United States to negotiate trade agreements on an accelerated schedule, increasing the number of agreements the United States can be party to, expanding the number of free markets America has access to. Since TPA lapsed in 1994, 130 international trade agreements have been negotiated and the U.S. has been party to only three. Congressional approval of TPA will give needed authority back to the White House to advance the American trade agenda abroad.

In July 2005, Dreier was instrumental in the effort to pass the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement. DR-CAFTA creates a free trade zone between the United States, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Costa Rica. DR-CAFTA was essential to ensuring fair trade, because prior to passage of the agreement, most goods from the region entered the U.S. duty-free, while U.S. exports to the DR-CAFTA countries faced high tariffs, stifling job creation and economic growth in the U.S. Passage of the agreement will also solidify Central America’s burgeoning democracies and promote U.S. national security, as greater ties to the United States will help the region stand up to Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Cuba’s Fidel Castro, who seek greater influence in the region. As Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos recently argued, the DR-CAFTA is "a chance to lock in the democratic future for Central America."

Congressman Dreier believes that America needs to decrease international barriers because free international trade:

• Opens markets for American goods and services, which in turn leads to a larger number of high-skill, higher-paying jobs available for American workers;
• Promotes comparative advantage, which allows the United States to devote its resources to producing the products we produce most efficiently;
• Increases competition, which pushes American firms to operate more efficiently and effectively;
• Allows a greater flow of information and technology across borders, which lets us learn from other countries and decrease security tensions; and
• Results in lower prices for American consumers, which restrains inflation and raises the living standards of working families. For example, the purchasing power of the average American family has increased by $2000 as a result of passage of NAFTA and U.S. membership in the WTO, according to the U.S. Trade Representative.

Finally, because international trade raises living standards, decreases poverty, acts as a powerful incentive for countries to comply with the rule of law, and acts as a democratizing force, Congressman Dreier will continue to fight for free international trade that benefits American workers and provides access to American principles, values, and goods to foreign populations.