June 16, 2016

The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States of America
The White House
Washington, DC 20500 

The Honorable Paul Ryan
Speaker of the House
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Majority Leader
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC  20510 

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Minority Leader
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC  20515

The Honorable Harry Reid
Minority Leader
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC  20510

Dear President Obama, Speaker Ryan, Leader McConnell, Leader Pelosi and Leader  Reid:

As representatives of American companies of all sizes in every sector of the U.S. economy, we are united in our strong support for expanded trade, existing U.S. trade agreements, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). In that spirit, we urge you to redouble efforts and forge a path forward to approve the TPP this year.

If the TPP is not approved this year, the United States will jeopardize a huge opportunity  for U.S. growth, jobs and leadership. Many foreign governments are completing their own trade agreements that create advantages for their industries and workers at the expense of ours. America is already losing opportunities and market share where we have failed to put in place our own trade agreements that reflect our own high standards, and we will continue to fall further behind without the TPP.

The TPP offers a substantial opportunity to support U.S. economic growth and jobs in every state. With a total population of nearly 500 million people and an overall economy of more  than $10 trillion, the 11 other TPP countries already represent the largest combined market  for U.S. goods and services in the world. The TPP will further open up this rapidly growing Asia- Pacific market, enabling U.S. businesses and workers to sell more American-made goods and services.

The TPP is critical to promoting U.S. economic and strategic leadership in the Asia-Pacific  region and globally. This U.S. trade agreement sets strong, enforceable rules for U.S. trade with the TPP countries and will help create a fairer international trading system. The TPP also  contains first-ever provisions in several areas to improve American competitiveness.  Those include prohibitions on digital protectionism, new rules on fair competition with state-owned enterprises, tools to promote small business exports, stronger intellectual property rights, and good governance rules to fight corruption.

We, therefore, urge you to seize this historic opportunity for the United States by working together and with other members of Congress and the business community to approve the TPP this year.

Sincerely,

John Engler
President
Business Roundtable

Jay Timmons
President & CEO
National Association of Manufacturers

Thomas J. Donohue
President and CEO
U.S. Chamber of Commerce

cc: Senator Orrin Hatch
Senator Ron Wyden
Representative Kevin Brady
Representative Sandy Levin