U.S. industry urges TAA extension
The Trade and American Competitiveness Coalition, a group of 18 large business associations, urged President Obama and congressional leadership in a letter Tuesday, to extend the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, which expired Feb. 12.
'TAA is as vitally important today as it has been over the years,' the coalition wrote. 'It helps American businesses get into exporting and is designed to give displaced workers the new skills and resources they need to re-enter the 21st century job market.'
'We urge the administration and Congress to make the U.S. trade agenda a priority and work together to renew TAA and other critical preference programs for eligible countries, as well as ratify the pending free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama, as soon as possible,' added Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, and a founding member of the coalition.