Missouri’s junior senator thinks approval by Congress of three free trade agrements will help an important prt of Missouri’s economy do even better. The free trade agreements with South Korea, Panama, and Colombia have been praised by Senator Roy Blunt and other supportsrs as new drivers of the nation’s economic growth. They’re the first free trade agreements to get through Congress since 2007.
Blunt says the legislation is focused on creating markets for American workers. He says they open doors for more Missouri products.. He says they’ll mean more than two-billion dollars more a year in agricultural exports. He says Missouri’s export economy grew more than three times faster than other employment 2004-2008 and these agreements will stimulate that growth again.
But The United States International Trade Commission is much less enthusiastic. It says the agreements will have minimal economic impact because the three countgries are not major trading partners. The commission thinks the biggest beneficiaries might be farmers.
Blunt speaks from senate floor (6:38 mp3)
