Issue Position: Foreign Affairs and National Security - Trade

Issue Position

Since coming to Congress Rep. Eshoo has been a consistent supporter of policies to promote trade. She fully appreciates the value of international trading partnerships as a tool to expand U.S. economic and social interests internationally. Rep. Eshoo places the highest priority on eliminating the potential for trade agreements to degrade existing labor and environmental standards around the world.

In our rapidly-changing global economy, the effects of expanded trade are often felt disproportionately within different sectors of our economy. To provide aid to workers displaced by factors tied to international trade, Rep. Eshoo has been a prominent advocate for the Trade Adjustment Assistance program which provides aid to workers who lose their jobs or whose hours of work and wages are reduced as a result of increased imports.

Rep. Eshoo has supported extending TAA benefits to affected service sector employees including IT workers, engineers, customer services employees, and others.

Rep. Eshoo's knowledge of the technology sector and her work in the Intelligence field has given her a special status to discuss the intersection of these two issues. On January 15, 2010, Rep. Eshoo participated in a House Foreign Affairs Committee Field Hearing at Stanford University at the request of Committee Chairman Howard Berman. The hearing focused on the Export Administration Act, which regulates the international transfer of sensitive goods and technologies which have both civilian and military uses. The Hearing reviewed whether restrictions in the law are helpful or counterproductive to national defense in the long-run. Rep. Eshoo favors only those restrictions necessary to protect American Intelligence issues and otherwise supports open trade.

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