This Weekly Trade Spotlight is on trade and jobs in America. Beginning November 30, United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk will be in Geneva, Switzerland to discuss job-creating opportunities at the 7th Session of the WTO Ministerial Conference.
Thisweek, Ambassador Kirk is meeting with his counterparts at the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference. U.S. engagement at the WTO offers the opportunity to generate job-creating trade for American businesses and workers. Even in these difficult times, trade is supporting American jobs and market opportunities from coast to coast.
The job-creating benefits of trade span the fifty states. In Florida, the export of manufactured goods supports hundreds of thousands of jobs. And in California, over a million workers hold jobs supported by trade. Across the country six million total jobs are sustained by exports.
In Nebraska, one firm supports its 125 workers by exporting agricultural products to China. At the same time, a family-owned company in Albany, New York, sustains 350 workers by selling high-quality, high-performance valve products to Colombia.
On the whole, jobs at these companies and others that export are the kinds of high-quality jobs Americans want. Jobs supported by global trade pay on average between 13 and 18 percent higher than jobs supported by domestic consumers.
Ambassador Kirk is committed to helping more American families and workers all across the country to prosper through trade. During his time at the WTO Ministerial Conference, he will be advocating on their behalf for more and better trade opportunities.
