The National Retail Federation issued the following statement from President and CEO Matthew Shay on Senate passage of Trade Promotion Authority:
“This is a landmark step toward tearing down trade barriers that stand in the way of a truly free and open global economy. TPA will help complete trade agreements that will open new markets for U.S. companies and help retailers provide American families with the products they need at prices they can afford. This will ultimately mean more jobs for American workers and lower prices for American consumers. After weeks of partisanship, it’s refreshing to see Congress finally put good policy ahead of politics.”
TPA is considered essential to completion of two pending free trade agreements that would benefit retailers and other industries, the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. A recent study performed for NRF found that international trade supports 6.9 million jobs in the retail and restaurant industries alone. Of that number, more than half come from countries that would be part of the two agreements, and $6 billion in annual tariffs could be eliminated if the agreements become law.