gistfile1.txt

                      THE WHITE HOUSE
               Office of the Press Secretary
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
                            ___
                       For Immediate
Release
9:44 A.M. PDT
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
        ON TRADE
       Nike, Inc.
    Beaverton, Oregon
    THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Oregon!  (Applause.)  Well, who
arranged this day?  (Applause.)  Every time I come to
Oregon this is what it looks like.  (Laughter.)  Yeah!  It
never rains in Oregon, does it?
AUDIENCE:  No!
THE PRESIDENT:  Never.
AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Don't come to California.  (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT:  All right.  Well, listen, it is wonderful
to see all of you.  First of all, please give Mark another
round of applause for his hospitality.  (Applause.)  And
thanks to everyone at Nike for hosting us today, here in
“Federer Platz.”  (Laughter.)  You know, the White House is
cool.  (Laughter.)  We’ve got a basketball court --
May 8, 2015
actually, it's a tennis court that we repainted some lines
-- (laughter) -- when I came into office.  So it's a
combination basketball-tennis court.  There is a putting
green that President Eisenhower put in.  Can you imagine,
by the way, if I had put in a putting
green?  (Laughter.)  Things have changed.  (Laughter.)
But you’ve got all that and the 18th tee box from Pebble
Beach.  (Applause.)  Come on.  I’m sure some of my staff is
running around right now in the Michael Jordan and Mia Hamm
buildings -- (laughter) -- they want to be lab rats for
your new gear.  (Laughter.)
But it is wonderful to be here.  Please give it up for two
people who fight every single day for Oregon workers --
your Representatives in Congress -- they do a great job --
Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici.  They are both
here.  Give them a big round of
applause.  (Applause.)  Yay!  And there are two people who
couldn't make it here today, but they’re doing a great job
and you should give them a round of applause as well, and
that's Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Kurt
Schrader.  (Applause.)
So it is great to be at the world headquarters of such an
iconic company -- a company that helps athletes succeed
from the individual to the world stage.  And as you’ve
heard, I’ve come to Oregon to talk a little bit about trade
-- which initially may have had some people thinking, what,
is Mariota going someplace that we didn’t know
about?  (Laughter.)  He’s going to be great. He’s an
outstanding young man.  He’s going to be terrific -- and
from Hawaii, by the way.  (Applause.)  Local boy.
But this is important, and I want to tell you why I think
trade deals and our willingness to go out there and compete
on the global stage is so important.
Before I came out here, I had a chance to meet with
some    small business owners from across Oregon, whose
workers make everything from bikes to tea to stationery to
wine.  And they know how important this is to
them.  Sometimes when we talk about trade, we think of
Nike, or we think of Boeing, or we think of G.E. -- we
think about these big multinational companies.  But those
small business leaders came here today because they
understood that these markets outside the United States
will help them grow, and will help them hire more folks --
just as all the suppliers to Nike or Boeing or G.E. or any
of these other companies understand this is going to be
critical to their growth and their ability to create new
jobs.
In fact, that’s why Ron Wyden is not here -- because he’s
in Washington, D.C. as we speak quarterbacking this effort
on behalf of Oregon’s small business owners and workers.
Now, small businesses are the backbone of our
economy.  Eventually, like Nike, they grow sometimes into
really, really big companies.  They employ millions of
people; 98 percent of exporters are small
businesses.  They’re the ones who make Made in Oregon and
Made in the USA mean something.  And they represent
something essential about this country -- the notion that
if you’ve got a good idea and you’re willing to work at it,
you can turn that idea into a business, you can growth that
business, and eventually, who knows what might happen.  You
can give other people a chance to earn a living even as you
do well.  That’s America’s promise.  And it’s up to us to
keep that promise alive.
Now, that promise was threatened for almost everybody just
about seven years ago, when the economy nearly collapsed,
and millions of Americans lost their jobs and their homes
and their life savings.  But thanks to the hard work of the
American people and entrepreneurs like the ones who are
here today -- and some pretty good policies from my
administration -- (laughter) -- we’re in a different place
today.  (Applause.)  We're in a different place today.
This morning, we learned that our economy created 223,000
new jobs last month.  (Applause.)  The unemployment rate
ticked down again to 5.4 percent -- which is the lowest
it’s been in almost seven years.  (Applause.)  That’s 3
million new jobs over the past 12 months -- nearly the
fastest pace in over a decade.  And all told, over the past
62 months in a row, America’s businesses have created 12.3
million new jobs.
I should add, by the way, 62 months ago is when I signed
the Affordable Care Act.  So, obviously, it hasn’t done too
bad in terms of employment in this country.  (Applause.)  I
just thought I’d mention that.  (Applause.)  Since there
were a lot of predictions of doom and gloom, I would just
suggest those who were making those predictions go back and
check the statistics.  (Laughter.)  Just
saying.  (Laughter.)
So small businesses deserve a lot of credit for that.  In
fact, over the past several years, small businesses have
created nearly two out of every three new American
jobs.  And the question is, how do we build on that
success?  We’ve got to be relentless in our efforts to
support small businesses who are creating jobs and helping
to grow the economy.
And that’s been the purpose behind many of the policies
I’ve fought for as President.  I’ve cut taxes for small
businesses more than a dozen times.  I’ve pushed for
investments in infrastructure and faster Internet.  It’s
why we’ve made health care more accessible, affordable,
portable -- to give people the freedom to change jobs or
launch that startup without worrying about losing their
health insurance.
And passing trade agreements is part of that agenda if
those trade agreements are the right kinds of trade
agreements; if they make sure that they’re growing our
businesses, and helping American workers by selling goods
Made in America across the rest of the world.
And I’ve been talking a lot about this lately, because I
view smart trade agreements as a vital piece of middle-
class economics.  Not a contradiction to middle-class
economics, it’s a part and parcel of it.
I believe that our country does best when everyone gets a
fair shot, everyone does their fair share, everybody plays
by the same set of rules.  And that means making sure
everybody has got a good education.  It means making sure
that women are getting paid the same as men for doing the
same work.  (Applause.)  It means making sure that folks
have to have sick leave and family leave and that they can
balance work and family in a fair way.  It means, working
to increase the minimum wage all across this country --
because folks who have some of the toughest jobs oftentimes
get the lowest pay.
That’s all part of middle-class economics, but, you know
what, so is trade.  We strive to make sure our own economy
lives up to high standards, but in a lot of parts of the
world, the rules are unfair.  The playing field is
uneven.  That puts American businesses and American workers
at a disadvantage.  So the question is, what should we do
about it?
Some folks think we should just withdraw and not even try
to engage in trade with these countries.  I disagree.  We
have to make sure America writes the rules of the global
economy.  And we should do it today, while our economy is
in the position of global strength.  (Applause.)  Because
if we don’t write the rules for trade around the world --
guess what -- China will.  And they’ll write those rules in
a way that gives Chinese workers and Chinese businesses the
upper hand, and locks American-made goods out.
That’s the choice we face.  We're not going to be able to
isolate ourselves from world markets.  We got to be in
there and compete.  And the question is, are we going to
make sure that the rules are fair so that our businesses
and our workers are on a level playing field.  Because when
they are, we win every time.  When the rules are fair, we
win every time.  (Applause.)
So this is why I’m such a strong supporter of new trade
agreements.  They're going to help our workers compete and
our businesses compete.  This is not a left issue or a
right issue, or a business or a labor issue.  It is about
fairness and equity and access.  And like other issues that
we’ve waged slow, steady fights on over the last seven
years, this is also a question of the past versus the
future.
So the Trans-Pacific Partnership that we’re working on,
it’s the biggest trade deal that we're working on right now
-- has to do with the Asia Pacific region.  And it reflects
our values in ways that, frankly, some previous trade
agreements did not.  It’s the highest-standard, most
progressive trade deal in history.  It’s got strong,
enforceable provisions for workers, preventing things like
child labor.  It’s got strong, enforceable provisions on
the environment, helping us to do things that haven’t been
done before, to prevent wildlife trafficking, or
deforestation, or dealing with our oceans.   And these are
enforceable in the agreement.
And Nike operates in the Pacific region, so they understand
the competitive pressures they're under.  Nike has
factories all around the world.  And let’s face it, Mark I
think doesn't mind me saying it that some of these
countries, they don't have the standards for wages and
labor conditions that we have here.
So when you look at a country like Vietnam, under this
agreement, Vietnam would actually, for the first time, have
to raise its labor standards.  It would have to set a
minimum wage. It would have to pass safe workplace laws to
protect its workers. It would even have to protect workers’
freedom to form unions -- for the very first time.  That
would make a difference.  That helps to level the playing
field -- (applause) -- and it would be good for the workers
in Vietnam, even as it helps make sure that they’re not
undercutting competition here in the United States.
So that’s progress.  It doesn’t mean that suddenly working
conditions in Vietnam will be like they are here at
Nike.  (Laughter.)  Or here in Portland right away.  But it
moves us in the right direction.
And if Vietnam, or any of the other countries in this trade
agreement don’t meet these requirements, they’ll face
meaningful consequences.  If you’re a country that wants in
to this agreement, you have to meet higher standards.  If
you don’t, you’re out.  If you break the rules, there are
actual repercussions.  And that’s good for American
businesses and American workers, because we already meet
higher standards than most of the rest of the world, and
that helps level the playing field.
And this deal would strengthen our hand overseas by giving
us the tools to open other markets to our goods and
services and make sure they play by the fair rules we help
write.  The truth is, we have one of the most open markets
in the world.  Folks are already selling stuff here.  We
got to be able to sell there.  That requires us to enter
into trade agreements to open up their markets.
I hear Oregon wine is actually pretty
good.  (Applause.)  Somebody told me that the pinot noir in
Oregon is top-notch, right?  I’ve got some winemakers right
here.  (Applause.)  Well, I want to make sure Japanese wine
consumers have the opportunity to partake -- (laughter) --
in our excellent Oregon wine.
We got some Oregon beef producers and ranchers around here.
(Applause.)  Beef is really expensive in Japan.  Let’s make
sure they try some Oregon steaks.  (Applause.)  It’s good
stuff.
And that’s one of the best things that can happen for our
businesses and our workers -- opening up markets that have
previously been closed, particularly markets where they’re
already selling stuff here.  There’s a lack of
reciprocity.  It’s not a fair deal right now.  We want to
make it fair.
Now, I want to acknowledge -- because this looks like a
very well-read and informed crowd -- (laughter) -- that
there have been a bunch of critics about trade deals
generally and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.  And what’s
interesting is typically they’re my friends, coming from my
party, and they’re my fellow travelers on minimum wage and
on job training and on clean energy.  On every progressive
issue, they’re right there with me. And then on this one,
they’re like whooping on me.  (Laughter.)
But I tell you what.  I’ve run my last election, and the
only reason I do something is because I think it’s good for
American workers and the American people and the American
economy.  (Applause.)  I don’t have any other rationale for
doing what I do than I think it’s the best thing for the
American people.  And on this issue, on trade, I actually
think some of my dearest friends are wrong.  They’re just
wrong.  And here’s why.
First of all, they say that this trade agreement will cost
American jobs.  And they’re really basing this on some past
experience, looking at what happened in the ‘90s, over the
last 20 years, as there was a lot of outsourcing going
on.  And you know what, past trade agreements, it’s true,
didn’t always reflect our values or didn’t always do enough
to protect American workers.  But that’s why we’re
designing a different kind of trade deal
And the truth is that companies that only care about low
wages, they’ve already moved.  They don’t need new trade
deals to move.  They’ve already outsourced.  They’ve
already located in search of low wages.
What this trade agreement would do is open the doors to the
higher-skill, higher-wage jobs of the future -- jobs that
we excel at.  It would make sure our manufacturers who are
operating at the higher end of the value chain are able to
access these growing markets.  And the fact is, over the
past few years, our manufacturers have been steadily
creating jobs for the first time since the 1990s -- under
my administration.  After more than a decade away from the
top spot, business leaders around the world have declared
the United States is the world’s number one place to invest
for a third year in a row.  (Applause.)  Third year in a
row.
So the point is, outsourcing is already giving way to
insourcing.  Companies are starting to move back here to do
more advanced manufacturing, and this is a trend we expect
to continue.  This trade deal would help that.
Just this morning, as Mark may have mentioned, Nike
announced that, with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, it will
make new investments in advanced manufacturing -- not
overseas, but right here in the United States.  And far
more Nike products would be made in the
U.S.A.  (Applause.)  And that means thousands of new jobs
in manufacturing and engineering and design at Nike
facilities across the country, and potentially tens of
thousands of new jobs along Nike’s supply chain here at
home.  That’s what trade can do.  (Applause.)
Look, I’ve spent six and a half years trying to rescue this
economy -- six and a half years of trying to revitalize
American manufacturing, including rescuing an American auto
industry that was on its back and is now fully
recovered.  So I would not risk any of that if I thought
the trade deals were going to undermine it.  The reason I’m
for this is because I think it will enhance it and advance
it.  So that’s point number one.
Point number two -- when you ask folks specifically, what
do you oppose about this trade deal, they just say
“NAFTA.”  NAFTA was passed 20 years ago.  That was a
different agreement.  And in fact, this agreement fixes
some of what was wrong with NAFTA by making labor and
environmental provisions actually
enforceable.  (Applause.)  I was just getting out of law
school when NAFTA got passed.  (Laughter.)
Number three -- you’ve got some critics saying that any
deal would be rushed through; it’s a secret deal, people
don’t know what’s in it.  This is not true.  Any agreement
that we finalize with the other 11 countries will have to
be posted online for at least 60 days before I even sign
it.  Then it would go to Congress -- and you know they’re
not going to do anything fast.  (Laughter.)  So there will
be months of review.  Every T crossed, every I
dotted.  Everybody is going to be able to see exactly
what’s in it.
There’s nothing fast-track about this.  This is a very
deliberate track -- (laughter) -- which will be fully
subject to scrutiny.  And I’m confident when people read
the agreement for themselves, they’ll see that this is the
most progressive trade deal in history.
Number four -- critics warn that parts of this deal would
undermine American regulation -- food safety, worker
safety, even financial regulations.  They’re making this
stuff up.  (Applause.)  This is just not true.  No trade
agreement is going to force us to change our laws.  This
agreement would make sure our companies aren’t
discriminated against in other countries.
We already treat companies from other countries fairly
here. But our companies don’t always get treated fairly
there.  So sometimes they need to have some way to settle
disputes where it’s not subject to the whims of some
government bureaucrat in that country.  That’s
important.  We want our businesses to succeed in selling
over there because that's how our workers will get more
jobs here in the United States.
And then finally, some critics talk about currency
manipulation.  Now, this has been a problem in the
past.  Some countries, they try to lower their currency so
that it makes their goods cheaper, makes our more
expensive.  There was a time when China was pretty
egregious about this.  When I came into office, I started
pounding on them.  Every time I meet with them, I’d be
talking about currency.  And we pushed back hard, and China
moved.  In real terms, their currency has appreciated about
30 percent since I came into office.  And we're going to
keep on going after it.  But that’s not an argument against
this trade agreement.  If we give up the chance to help our
businesses sell their stuff in the world’s fastest-growing
markets, that doesn't do anything to stop currency
manipulation.
So the fact is, some folks are just opposed to trade deals
out of principle, a reflexive principle.  And what I tell
them is, you know what, if you're opposed to these smart,
progressive trade deals, then that means you must be
satisfied with the status quo.  And the status quo hasn’t
been working for our workers.  It hasn’t been working for
our businesses.  And there are people here who will tell
you why.
I’m going to just give you a couple of examples of small
businesses who I had a chance to meet with today.  Egg
Press is a Portland-based greeting card
company.  (Applause.)  Really nice. They sell their cards
in Australia, which is a member of this Trans-Pacific
Partnership agreement.  Their CEO, Tess Darrow -- where’s
Tess?  Raise your hand.  I saw her.  There she
is.  (Applause.)  So Tess says that if they could more
easily reach customers in Japan, as well, they’d sell half
the volume that they do here in America.  That’s a lot.
Right now, the logistics of exporting to Japan are too
complicated.  Products end up being held up for months at
the border.  This agreement would help solve some of those
problems so Tess can sell more greeting cards in Japan --
presumably in Japanese.  (Laughter.)  Is there going to be
-- there will be a translation process, I assume.  Yes,
absolutely.  I’m teasing.  (Laughter.)
So the trade deal would help eliminate barriers, and
simplify customs, and hold countries accountable for
getting products delivered swiftly.  The more Tess sells,
the more she can grow, the more she can hire here in
Oregon, here in the United States.
Oregon Fruit Products -- makes canned fruits, berries,
other products -- depends on exports for 20 percent of its
annual sales.  Right now, it exports to four members of
this partnership that we're putting together:  Japan,
Australia, Singapore, and Canada.  Unfortunately, selling
in these countries right now can mean dealing with unfair
rules designed to prevent our products from being offered
in their markets.  Under this agreement, that would
change.  Exporting becomes simpler, more consistent.  That
means more people around the world eating Oregon berries
all year long.  Berry tasty.  (Applause.)
Sokol Blosser Winery -- (applause) -- we got a lot of
drinkers here.  (Laughter.)  It’s a winery, family-run in
Dayton, Oregon.  One of its top export markets is
Japan.  Right now, there are high tariffs on American wine
in that country.  Under this trade partnership, those
tariffs would be eliminated, and wineries across America
could see their sales grow overseas.  The brother--and-
sister team that runs this vineyard -- wave, guys --
(applause) -- they say, “If we can make it easier to do
business with countries that are already our trading
partners, countries that are allies, that’s a good thing.”
They’re right.  This deal would be a good thing.  So let’s
“just do it.”  (Laughter and applause.)  It took a while
for you to catch that, didn’t it?  (Laughter.)  I thought
that was pretty obvious.  (Laughter.)
So, listen, I know a lot of folks who are skeptical about
trade.  Past trade deals didn’t always live up to the
hype.  Labor and environmental protections weren’t always
strong enough. I saw for years, in Chicago and towns across
Illinois, manufacturing collapsing, jobs drying
up.  Outsourcing is real.  Folks didn’t just make that
up.  Some of our manufacturing base shifted over the last
25 years, and it wasn’t good for manufacturing and it
wasn’t good for those communities, and it wasn’t good for
workers.  That’s the truth.  It had benefits -- other jobs
were created, we got cheaper goods.  But there was real
displacement and real pain.  And so, for many Americans,
this is not an abstraction; this is real.
But we’ve got to learn the right lessons from that.  The
lesson is not that we pull up the drawbridge and build a
moat around ourselves.  The lesson is, is that we’ve got to
make sure that the trade deals that we do shape are ones
that allow us to compete fairly.
So when I took office, I decided we could rethink the way
we do trade in a way that actually works for working
Americans.  I didn’t think this was the right thing to do
just for companies.  If I didn’t think this was the right
thing to do for working families, I would not be fighting
for it.  If any agreement undercuts working families, I
won’t sign it.  I ran for office to expand opportunity for
everybody -- the all-American idea that no matter who you
are, or where you come from, or how you started out, or who
you love, in America you can make it if you
try.  (Applause.)
So, yes, we should be mindful of the past, but we can’t
ignore the realities of the new economy.  We can’t stand on
the beaches and stop the global economy at our
shores.  We’ve got to harness it on our terms.  This
century is built for us.  It’s about innovation.  It’s
about dynamism and flexibility and entrepreneurship, and
information and knowledge and science and research.  That’s
us.  So we can’t be afraid of it; we’ve got to seize
it.  We’ve got to give every single American who wakes up,
sends their kids to school, rolls up their sleeves, punches
in every day the chance to do what they do best:  dream up,
innovate, build, sell the best products and ideas in the
world to every corner of the world.  (Applause.)
Because, Nike, we do not just have the best athletes in the
world.  We also have the best workers in the
world.  (Applause.) We also have the best businesses in the
world.  And when the playing field is level, nobody beats
the United States of America.  (Applause.)  Nobody beats
the United States of America.
Just do it, everybody.  Thank you.  God bless you.  Thank
you, Oregon.  Thank you.  God bless America.  (Applause.)
                        END           10:14 A.M. PDT