i3 - November/December 2016 - 2

From the CEO

Trade Improves the World

Technology
companies
have created
hundreds
of thousands
of new jobs.

2

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

their jobs went elsewhere. Even Secretary
Hillary Clinton, who was considered to
be favorable to free trade and praised the
Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) as the "gold
standard' of trade agreements, reversed
course and became a critic. Perhaps she did
it to get votes, especially with the anti-globalism Bernie Sanders supporters.
In any case, popular sentiment is against
trade and most Americans believe it has cost
American jobs. Yet, the facts and research
overwhelmingly prove that it is not trade that
cost jobs, but advances in technology.
Advances in technology have created
efficiencies so that you need fewer people
to farm land, run efficient factories and
staff retailers.
As fifty percent of Americans now begin their
search for products on Amazon, millions use
Uber or Lyft and many bank, communicate
and entertain using technology, it makes
sense that our job mix is changing.
More, technology has greatly reduced
or eliminated major job categories. Travel
agents, bank tellers and limo drivers are no
longer jobs for large numbers of Americans.
Certainly, technology companies have
created hundreds of thousands of new jobs.
Innovation has resulted in greater wealth
and a better lifestyle with expanded access to
entertainment, education and information for
many Americans.
As Congress returns from the election and
begins its lame duck session, we must work
hard to convince reluctant members from
both parties that they should consider and
vote on the TPP. In early October, the White
House wrapped up negotiations with the 12
nations in TPP to remove tariff and nontariff barriers. In 2014, the U.S. exported $36

billion in information and communication
technology products to TPP countries. The
TPP eliminates import taxes as high as 35
percent on U.S. information and communication technology exports to those countries.
By removing trade barriers, requiring balanced copyright rules, promoting innovation
and sustainable growth, the TPP stands to
benefit American businesses and workers.
Failure to approve the agreement would
not only jeopardize our trade relationship
with our most important allies including
Canada, Mexico and Japan, but it would hurt
American companies and set us on a path that
could be economically devastating.
The reason almost every industry and
agriculture group is working hard to get this
deal passed is because it protects American
interests. It also creates a counterbalance to
the dominance of China, which is beginning
to threaten the economy and independence of
other countries.
More, simply as a matter of national
security, this trade pact is important because
our failure to move it forward would reflect
dangerously and weaken the U.S. and its allies
not only economically, but strategically and
militarily.
We cannot let the rhetoric of the election
turn us into a walled nation where we make
everything ourselves including the technology products we rely upon. We must heed
President Obama and the leaders in Congress
who are pushing hard to get TPP passed so
that every American will have access to the
life-enhancing and even life-saving miracles
that technology from around the world will
increasingly provide.

Gary Shapiro,
President and CEO

I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

RISDON PHOTOGRAPHY

0

ne of the many sad elements of the recent
race for the presidency is that the leading two
candidates pushed the canard that trade
hurts us and costs jobs. Indeed, the Donald
Trump candidacy relied primarily on the votes of angry
white men who felt the world passing them by as
i3 - November/December 2016

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