Alexander Says Trade Agreements "Will Bring Millions of Dollars and Thousands of Jobs to Tennessee"

Press Release

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today voted in favor of trade agreements with South Korea, Panama, and Colombia -- three agreements he said would "create a quarter of a million jobs nationwide, including thousands in Tennessee."

Alexander continued: "These three trade agreements are good news for Tennessee's economy and will bring millions of dollars and thousands of jobs to our state now that Tennesseans can sell more of our auto parts to South Korea, more of our electronics to Panama, and more of our soybeans to Colombia. Congress would have passed these trade agreements to help create good private-sector jobs all across the country a long time ago, but the president has kept them on his desk since the day he took office."

In 2010 alone, Tennessee exported nearly $900 million in goods to these three countries, despite tariffs these trade agreements will eliminate. Similar trade agreements passed in 2004 helped increase Tennessee exports to Chile by 416 percent and to Singapore by 195 percent, according to the International Trade Administration.

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