Apr202016
Posted at 9:50 AM
Today, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker delivered remarks at “The State of Hispanic Small Business Breakfast” held during the 2016 U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) Legislative Summit. The Summit is a forum for public and private sector leaders to discuss the opportunities and challenges faced by the Hispanic business community.
During her remarks, Secretary Pritzker highlighted the importance of the Trans-Pacific Partnership for American businesses and workers, and how the trade agreement will ensure our nation’s economic competitiveness in the 21st century global economy.
President and CEO of USHCC Javier Palomarez and Chairman and CEO of the Pinnacle Group Nina Vaca, who is also a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship, were also in attendance.
Remarks As Prepared For Delivery
Thank you, Javier, for that generous introduction.
Before I begin, I want to say a quick word about your chair emeritus, Nina Vaca. As a member of the Commerce Department’s Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship, or PAGE, initiative, Nina has travelled the world on her own time and her own dime to help develop the next generation of entrepreneurs. Thank you, Nina, for your service on behalf of our country and thank you for all that you are doing today to develop tomorrow’s entrepreneurs.
Like so many of you here today, I am data driven. The numbers seldom lie and often tell a compelling story. When I look at the data surrounding our economic recovery, what is clear to me is that: Latino-owned businesses played an outsized role in both saving and growing our economy.
Consider that in 2007, there were 2.3 million Hispanic-owned businesses generating $350 billion in revenue for the U.S. economy. By 2012, those numbers were 3.3 million and $474 billion. And today, there are an estimated 4.1 million Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States generating $661 billion in revenue. I like those numbers.
Most business leaders – and their shareholders and Boards – would do anything to see that level of growth. Indeed, to borrow a turn of phrase from the President, the state of America’s Hispanic small businesses is strong – and getting stronger.
Yet even with this forward leaning growth, challenges persist. Our economy is growing, but too many people and too many households have yet to see the impact in their own lives. Real wages are rising, but too many workers have yet to feel it in their own paychecks. Private sector profits are up, but many companies still confront uncertainty in markets at home and abroad.
To confront these challenges while also building upon the significant progress that has been made over the last seven years, this Administration is constantly looking for new business opportunities: opportunities that strengthen middle class families and support those trying to reach the middle class; opportunities that spur growth across all communities; and opportunities that are economically sustainable. I firmly believe the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, is a major opportunity that achieves these goals.
As Secretary of Commerce, my job is to set objectives and execute policies that create the conditions for your companies to succeed and for our economy to grow. Under President Obama’s leadership, the Department of Commerce has been transformed into a true department of business that provides the services and policies needed by companies of all sizes to prosper in a competitive global economy. Put simply: our role is to both keep America open for business and to ensure that the world is open to American businesses.
As large and diverse as our country is, we still only account for four percent of the global population. 96 percent of the world’s consumers live outside our borders, and 80 percent of the world’s purchasing power is outside the United States. But too often, your companies lack equal access to foreign markets and confront significant barriers to entry.
For example, automotive goods face a 70 percent tariff in Vietnam. Machinery and capital equipment face a 59 percent tariff in Malaysia. And poultry faces a 40 percent tariff in Japan. On day one, TPP will eliminate 98 percent of these tariffs. In effect, this means that 18,000 tariffs, which are like taxes on many of the products and services your companies create, will be gone immediately.
But TPP will do more than just eliminate tariffs. By linking the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Peru, and Chile with some of the fastest growing countries in Asia, we will strengthen existing supply chains and build new ones across a region that comprises nearly 40 percent of global GDP. It includes critical intellectual property rights protections that will drive innovation. It reflects American values by compelling our partner countries to make the economic reforms necessary to attract investment, support economic development, and reduce poverty.
Consider the story of Concept II Cosmetics, a Hispanic-owned manufacturer in Miami. Concept II’s entire business model is based on exports. The company has expanded to 22 new countries in the last 3 years. As a result, they have been able to increase their workforce from 9 to 25 employees and begin selling their products in new markets like Japan and Vietnam, both TPP countries.
Concept II’s CEO recognizes the potential for new customers in the Asia-Pacific’s rapidly expanding middle class, which is set to grow from 570 million today to an estimated 2.3 billion by 2030. The uniform labeling standards in TPP will speed up registration in these new markets and enable the company to get their goods to market more quickly. TPP’s non-discrimination rules for cosmetic products will also ensure that their products can compete on a level playing field.
Just as TPP would benefit Concept II’s workers and its bottom line, the agreement’s new labor provisions present tremendous potential for both people around the world and you as business owners. All workers around the world deserve fair wages and the equality of opportunity and treatment in employment. TPP will bring hundreds of millions of additional workers under International Labor Organization standards. TPP will not only create better conditions for workers but also put more money in their pockets.
At the same time, we are not ignoring the heated rhetoric that suggests trade has hurt American workers. This Administration understands that our workforce will be impacted as the global economy accelerates and our businesses adopt the latest technologies. We are focused on making sure that workforce training efforts also match the pace of change in the economy.
Before we can unlock the benefits of TPP, we need the agreement signed into law. Though this clear and straightforward economic opportunity is within reach, we are not there yet. The time to act is now.
A report by the Peterson Institute for International Economics shows that if TPP is delayed by just one year, the United States will see an estimated one-time national loss of $94 billion. Think about it: that translates to $700 more in the hands of each average American family. In addition, the longer we wait, the more we cede the rules of the road to China and other competitors in the region. With the future of trade in the Asia-Pacific region still being written, we must ask ourselves: can we afford to risk America’s leadership in trade simply because other nations are acting more quickly than we are?
At the Department of Commerce, we know that the answer to that question is absolutely not. That is why President Obama and this Administration are hard at work making the business case for TPP to the American people. At the same time, we understand that government is not the best spokesperson for why we need TPP. The best argument in favor of trade must come from all of you, the human face of our trade agenda, business leaders who understand the real value of trade and exports.
If we are going to cross the finish line on TPP, we need you as our partners, making the case for trade in your communities, in your states, and nationwide. I urge you today to reach out to your employees, your friends, your family, your neighbors, and make your voices heard. Tell them how TPP will grow your businesses and how that will translate into more jobs for your workers, more customers for your companies, and more growth for our economy.
Latino-owned businesses played a vital role in moving our economy from recession to recovery to expansion. The Trans-Pacific Partnership is an opportunity to continue that progress and make the state of America’s Hispanic small businesses even stronger. The future of our country’s economy is increasingly being shaped by the ideas and contributions of Latinos. Working together, I am confident we can ensure our country and our businesses, your businesses, remain on the leading edge of competitiveness, and keep America open for business. Thank you.
