Ernst joins push for trade promotion authority

CEDAR RAPIDS — Passage of trade promotion authority (TPA) to give presidents more latitude in negotiating international trade agreements would benefit Iowa businesses and farmers, Sen. Joni Ernst said Tuesday.

The freshman Republican joined GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia to call for Senate passage of a six-year TPA, also called fast-track authority, which would allow President Barack Obama and his successor to negotiate trade deals that ultimately would have to be approved by Congress.

The legislation, which may get a Senate vote this week, would help the 3,300 Iowa-based companies that have exported to nearly 190 countries around the world, Ernst said.

At the Capitol news conference, Ernst said TPA would benefit Iowans by 'opening up the international trade that would really boost our agricultural exports, and provide new market opportunities, reduce those trade barriers and for our manufacturers, create more jobs.'

She pointed out that in 2014, Iowa:

• Exported a record-setting $15.1 billion in manufactured goods and value-added agricultural products, and 83 percent of those came from small or medium-sized businesses.

• Iowa farmers exported over $3.5 billion in soybeans, nearly $2 billion in pork, $1.7 billion in corn and just over $1 billion in feed grain.

In human terms, Ernst said, the Business Roundtable said more than 448,000 Iowa jobs are directly tied to trade.

'That is nearly one in every five jobs in Iowa directly associated to trade,' she said.