Backgrounder: The President's Trade Agenda

As the debate on the President's trade agenda in Washington continues, we wanted to have one place to share all background resources for those who wish to get caught up. We hope you find these reports and pieces to be helpful:

Obama Administration Materials

• Report: "Standing Up for the Environment: Trade for a Greener World," USTR, 5/21/15. 
• Full Speech: "The World Wants What America Makes," Secretary John Kerry in Renton, Washington, 5/19/15. 
• Full Speech: "An Open and Secure Internet: We Must Have Both," Secretary John Kerry in Seoul, Korea, 5/18/15.  
• Blog: "Seizing Strategic Opportunity Through Trade", Caroline Atkinson, 5/7/15. 
• Full Speech: "The Digital Economy and Trade: A 21st Leadership Imperative," Deputy USTR Robert Holleyman at NDN, 5/1/15.
• Fact Sheet: "The Digital Dozen," USTR, 5/1/15.
• Report: "The Economic Benefits of Trade," White House Council of Economic Advisors, 5/1/15.
• Report: "The United States of Trade," USTR and U.S. Department of Commerce, 5/1/15. 
• Transcript: "U.S. Trade Negotiations Aim to Raise Labor and Environmental Standards," Conversation with USTR Michael Froman at Council on Foreign Relations, 06/14/14.

The Path Forward

• "How Republicans could get Obama Trade Promotion Authority," CQ Roll Call, 06/17/15.

Noteworthy Op-Eds/Articles/Reports:

• "Fast Track Votes Have Long, Difficult History," Isaac Stanley-Becker, 6/12/15. 
• "TPA Makes Sense For America," Ambs. Susan Schwab and Mickey Kanter, 6/11/15.
• "Outside Washington, Democrats are onboard for trade" Ed Rendall, 6/11/15.
• "Congress needs to help American trade grow," Secretary John Kerry and Ashton Carter, 6/8/15. 
• "What's Actually in Obama's Secret Trade Deal?" Michael Grunwald, Politico, 6/1/15.
• "When Did Democrats become America's Free Traders," Bruce Stokes, Foreign Policy, 5/29/15.
• "The Trade Paradox," Ron Brownstein, the National Journal, 5/21/15.
• Virginia is a global gateway, Senator Tim Kaine, 5/16/15.
• Democrats are more enthuastic than Republicans about trade, Matt Yglesias, Vox, 5/15/15.
• "The rise of micro-multinational, and why that matters to the U.S. Economy", Secretary Pritzker and Devin Wenig, San Jose Mercury News, 5/14/15.  
• "You can't stop the trade machine," Fareed Zakaria, The Washington Post, 5/14/15. 
• "Towards a smarter, more progressive approach to trade," Congressman Jared Polis, Boulder Weekly, 5/14/15. 
• "Trade authority gives Americans a voice," Senator Orrin Hatch, USAToday, 5/12/15. 
• "Why Obama is Happy to fight Elizabeth Warren on the trade deal," Matt Bai, Yahoo, 5/9/15. (Note the quotes from NDN Fellow Dr. Shapiro). 
• "The Trans Pacific Partnership is about More Than Trade," Daniel Drezner, Washington Post, 5/7/15.
• "Americans Workers need a powerful voice, not mere bluster," Edward Alden, Washington Post, 5/6/15.  
• Report: The Digital Opportunity: Democraticizing Trade for the 99%, Progressive Policy Institute, 5/5/15.
• Exocerising NAFTA's ghosts, Mack McLarty, Washington Post, 5/3/15.
• A Trade Watershed? Robert Samuelson, Washington Post, 5/3/15. 
• "On Trade: Obama Right, Critics Wrong," Thomas Friedman, New York Times, 4/29/15.
• The Free Internet is a Global Priority, Senator Ron Wyden, 4/22/15.
• The Strategic Imperitative of Trade, General James L. Jones, Connecticut Post, 4/18/15. 

Other Useful Materials

• Memorandum on Public Polling of Views on the President's trade agenda, USTR, 6/5/15. 
• Reuters/Ipso Poll: Americans Back New Trade Deals, Politico, 5/28/15.  
• Pew Research Poll: "Free Trade Agreement Seen As Good for U.S., But Concerns Persist," 5/27/15.
• Brookings: TPP? T-TIP? Key Trade Deal Terms Explained, 5/20/15. 
• NBC/WSJ Poll: "Americans Warming to Free Trade," Wall Street Journal, 5/4/15.
• April 2015 Poll on Trade, Beneson Strategy Group, 4/28/15.

Materials from NDN

• Please Thank These Democrats for Supporting the President on TPA, 6/4/15. 
• On FIFA, Fair Play, and Our Global System Today, Simon Rosenberg, 5/29/15. 
• NDN Statement in Support of Trade Promotion Authority, 4/17/15.
• Fighting to Keep the Internet Open and Free, Simon Rosenberg, US News and World Report, 10/22/14.
• The Liberal Order Needs An Upgrade, Simon Rosenberg, US News and World Report, 9/23/14.
• Thoughts on the President's Trade Agenda, Simon Rosenberg, 1/31/14.
• An Enduring Legacy: The Democratic Party and Free and Open Trade, Simon Rosenberg, Huffington Post, 1/21/14. 

NDN in the Press

• "Labor’s Might Seen in Failure of Trade Deal as Unions Allied to Thwart It," Noam Schreiber, New York Times, 6/13/15.
• "How the next few weeks could determine the fate of Obama’s legacy," David Nakamura and Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post, 6/9/15.
• "Democrats Support Free Trade More than Republicans Do. So Why the Big Split Over the TPP?" Suzy Khimm, The New Republic, 6/8/15.
• "Obama’s push on trade splits Democrats along economic lines," David Nakamura, Washington Post, 6/2/15.
   

Additional Important Websites

• White House Trade Page
• USTR Trade Hubs (TTP and T-TIP)
• Senator Ron Wyden on Trade
• Trade Benefits America Coalition 

 If there are other articles you think should be added, email me at ccantor@ndn.org. We will update this regularly to include the latest information.