On February 7, President Obama strolled across Lafayette Park to speak to the U.S. Chamber. Tom Donohue noted the tradition of Presidents visiting the Chamber goes back to President William Howard Taft in 1912. "I'm here today," the President said, "because I'm convinced we can and must work together." We welcome and take seriously his commitment to working with the American business community, and there's no better place to deepen that relationship than right here at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The President touched on a wide array of issues, including global competition, encouraging innovation, rebuilding our infrastructure, strengthening education, and increasing exports.
"As far as exports are concerned," President Obama said, "that means seeking new opportunities and opening new markets for your goods. And I will tell you I will go anywhere anytime to be a booster for American businesses, American workers and American products. We recently signed export deals with India and China that will support more than 250,000 jobs here in the United States. We finalized a trade agreement with South Korea that will support at least 70,000 American jobs. And by the way, it's a deal that has unprecedented support from business and labor, Democrats and Republicans. That's the kind of deal that I will be looking for as we pursue trade agreements with Panama and Colombia, as we work to bring Russia into the international trading system. Those are going to be our top priorities because we believe Americans have the best products and the best businesses, and if we're out there selling and we're out there hustling, there's no reason why we can't do a lot better than we're doing right now when it comes to our exports. Read more.
