The President: Well,
yesterday we announced a new
trade agreement across the
Asia Pacific region that
reflects American values and
gives our working families
and American businesses
a fair shot, creates
a level playing field.
The Trans-Pacific
Partnership took five years
to negotiate, and I wanted
to get the best possible
deal done for American
workers and American
businesses, and that is
what we have achieved.
This agreement makes us more
competitive by eliminating
about 18,000 taxes, tariffs
that are placed on America's
products in these
other countries.
Just to give you a couple
examples, Japan puts a
38-percent tax on
American beef before
it ever reaches market.
Malaysia currently puts
a 30-percent tax on
American auto parts.
Vietnam puts a tax of
as much as 70 percent
on every car American
automakers sell in Vietnam.
Under this agreement,
all those foreign
taxes will fall.
Most of them will
fall to zero.
So we are knocking down
barriers that are currently
preventing American
businesses from selling
in these countries and are
preventing American workers
from benefitting from
those sales to the
fastest-growing, most
dynamic region in the world.
This agreement opens up new
markets for goods that are
made in America.
Last year, we exported more
than $2 trillion worth of
goods and services,
which supported about
11.7 million
American jobs.
That's the fifth straight
year that we had set
an export record.
But when 95 percent of the
world's markets are outside
of our borders, we've got to
do even better than that,
particularly at a time when
our economy is actually
doing better than a lot of
other countries and they
want to sell stuff here.
We've got to make sure
that we're able to
sell stuff over there.
With this trade agreement,
which spans nearly
40 percent of the global
economy, we're going to be
able to sell more products,
more services, American
agriculture, American
manufacturing -- we're going
to be able to get those to
markets, and American
companies that produce here
in the United States are not
going to be disadvantaged
relative to these markets.
Keep in mind that when there
are high barriers in these
countries, oftentimes that's
when a lot of American
companies feel compelled --
if we want to reach those
markets, we've got to go
produce over there.
If the tariffs are down, if
the taxes are down on goods
made in America, that means
U.S. companies that
are investing here are
able to sell over
there without a
disadvantage.
That's what American
leadership looks like
in the 21st century.
That's why this agreement
also sets high standards for
one of the fastest-growing
regions of the world.
This agreement has the
strongest labor standards
of any trade agreement in
history, including setting
fair hours, prohibiting
child labor, prohibiting
forced labor.
It includes the highest
environmental standards
in history, and prevents
overfishing, and makes sure
that wildlife trafficking
isn't decimating wildlife
that are a world treasure.
And so unlike past
agreements, these standards
-- high standards around
labor and environment --
are actually enforceable.
If countries aren't abiding
by them, then they don't get
the benefits of selling to
the United States under the
terms of this agreement.
And, under this agreement,
we, rather than countries
like China, are writing
the rules for the
global economy.
So I've said repeatedly
that I would only sign an
agreement and present an
agreement to Congress if I
could be absolutely certain
that it was good for
American workers and good
for American businesses,
good for American farmers
and good for American
ranchers, and good for
American manufacturers.
We have met that standard
in this agreement.
So this week marks an
important step forward, but
there's going to be a
long, healthy process of
discussion and consultation
and debate before this ever
comes to an actual vote.
And we committed properly
that we would post this
agreement, every crossed t
and dotted i, on a website
so that everybody is going
to be able to look at it.
We are going to be talking
not just to members of
Congress, but the American
public and various
constituencies, and
governors, and mayors who
are represented here
about why this is good
for their communities.
And so we're going to
have months before this
actually comes
up for a vote.
People are going to
have plenty of time
to go over it.
I suspect that there will be
some misinformation that
is propagated around
this, as there usually
is in these debates.
But I'm also confident that
the case to be made for
why this is good for America
is sufficiently strong; that
ultimately we're going to
get this done, and it will
be an enormous achievement
for us to be able to make
sure that 40 percent of the
world's economy is operating
under rules that don't hurt
us, but instead help make
sure that American workers
and American businesses
are getting a fair shot, and
that made in America, those
products and services can
be sold in places where
there's going to be
significant demand.
So I want to thank everybody
around this table.
This is a diverse
constituency.
A lot of different groups
are represented here.
We want to thank all of them
for their work in getting us
to this point, and now
helping us get across the
finish line.
Thank you very much,
everybody.
