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International trade generates $23 billion for S.C. economy |
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Tuesday, 07 August 2007 |
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photo/Dan McCue / U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez speaks at
the Port of Charleston Monday as U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint looks on.
By Dan McCue
CHARLESTON -- International trade generated $23 billion for South
Carolina in 2006, with $13.6 billion of that total generated by exports
to more than 150 counties around the world, said U.S. Commerce
Secretary Carlos Gutierrez as he toured the Port of Charleston’s Union
Pier Monday.
“Those figures illustrate international trade’s importance to this
port, and just as importantly, to this state and region of the country.
If South Carolina is going to continue to enjoy a vibrant, high growth
economy, it’s my belief that it is going to be due to expanding
relationships with our trading partners.”
Gutierrez’ visit to Charleston, accompanied by U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint and
U.S. Rep. Henry Brown, came as Congress continues to deliberate the
fate of free trade agreements the Bush administration has reached with
Peru, Panama, Colombia and South Korea.
Typically, FTA agreements are reached between the U.S. trade
representative and the foreign trade ministry in question and ratified
by Congress and the foreign legislative body. However, uncertainty
surrounds these four agreements in varying degrees because the
Democratic-controlled Congress is seeking 11th-hour assurances on
international labor standards that are part of the deals.
Given the uncertainty of their imminent ratification, the choice of
Union Pier and the Sweden-based Wallenius Wilhelmsen cargo ship MV
Titus as a backdrop was no accident: As Gutierrez and his party spoke,
the ship was being loaded with BMWs built in Greenville and headed to
markets all over the world.
Gutierrez noted during brief remarks that while countries with whom the
United States has FTAs make up only 7.5 % of the world’s Gross Domestic
Product, they purchase more than 42% of U.S. exports.
“Exports are helping to drive the U.S. economy and were a significant
source of U.S. GDP growth in the 2007 second quarter,” he said. “Free
trade agreements are the best way to open markets and create growth and
new American jobs.”
He went on to assert that the four FTAs now before Congress would open
doors to 126 million consumers with a combined GDP of $1.1 trillion, or
nearly as much as the entire $1.4 trillion value of all U.S. exports
last year.
Gutierrez went on to compare the potential of the new trade agreements
with the potential he said was realized with the Dominican
Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement.
“Earlier today in Charleston a number of the business people we met
with told me stories about how their businesses had grown as a result
of DR-CAFTA. To me that’s tangible proof that these agreements work,”
he said.
But Gutierrez didn’t only tout trade during his visit to Charleston,
both at the pier and in an earlier meeting with business people, the
commerce secretary lauded the port itself as “a model of how we will
grow in the future.”
Gutierrez explained that while there’s no question that ports along the
U.S. coast will have to double their capacity in the next 20 years to
keep up with surging imports from overseas, the Port of Charleston has
shown growth also must be accompanied by rising terminal productivity
and efficient use of scarce land resources.
DeMint and Brown spoke about security issues at the port, particularly
in light of the arrest over the weekend near Goose Creek of two men
initially suspected of being involved in a possible terrorist plot.
The authorities have since charged Youseff Megahed, 21, and Ahmed
Mohamed, 24, with possession of an incendiary device, a federal charge
that could result in each serving two to 15 years in prison.
“While the FBI has indicated that they don’t believe these men were
involved in a criminal plot, the situation underscores the fact that we
have to always be cognizant of the risks that are out there,” Brown
said.
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