Cochran: Free Trade Pacts Will Create Economic Opportunities for Mississippi & Nation

Press Release

U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) today expressed his belief that economic opportunities will expand for Mississippi and the nation with congressional approval of three free trade agreements (FTAs) with Panama, Colombia and South Korea.

The Senate voted Wednesday night to approve the trade pacts, which were negotiated five years ago but not sent to the Congress by the Obama administration until last week. Cochran was among a group of Republican Senators who in July agreed to a plan that prompted President Obama to submit the trade agreements to Congress for approval. The FTAs were passed with bipartisan Senate support.

"The administration's long delay in referring these agreements to Congress represents a missed opportunity for American workers and businesses," Cochran said. "I hope that companies in Mississippi can make up for lost time and soon expand their export of goods and services as a result of these trade agreements. That action should help create a better environment for job creation among our agriculture, manufacturing and industrial bases, as well as at our ports."

The three separate FTAs were negotiated in 2006 and 2007 during President George W. Bush's administration to expand market access for American goods and services with U.S. allies, South Korea, Panama and Colombia, through the reduction or elimination of import tariffs and trade barriers. Cochran has viewed the FTAs as one facet for increasing Mississippi's export activity, especially with Latin America.

The Port of Gulfport and the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority last year signed memorandums of understanding with the Panama Canal Authority to cooperatively promote the Mississippi facilities as part of international trade routes. A $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal is expected to open in 2014, allowing larger vessels to pass between the eastern United States and Asia.

According to the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), the export of Mississippi goods and services to these three nations has increased steadily since 2004, particularly to Panama and Colombia. Mississippi's exports to Panama, the JEC reported, increased from $23.5 million in 2004 to almost $722.3 million in 2010. The state's trade with Colombia and South Korea was valued at $223.0 million and $72.4 million, respectively, in 2010.

Mississippi's overall shipments of export merchandise in 2010 totaled $8.2 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Administration. In addition, 1,314 companies exported goods from Mississippi locations in 2008, and 981 of those firms were small or medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.

In July, Cochran was among 12 Republican Senators who indicated that they would support consideration of Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) reauthorization legislation if the President would agree to decouple the TAA measure from the three pending trade agreements and forward those trade pacts to the Congress for approval.

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