Business travel is expected to be positively impacted by today’s 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, according to U.S. Travel Association.
The trade agreement involves Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam in addition to the United States. It is designed to boost economic growth through an increase in exports throughout the region by eliminating thousands of taxes in the form of tariffs that countries put on American-made products.
“With inbound international visitation counting as the United States’ third-largest industry export, the travel community knows well the value of trade,” says U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow. “The 11 other countries that will join the U.S. in the TPP sent 46.3 million visitors to the U.S. in 2014, accounting for 62 percent of all international inbound visitation that year. There is little question that the TPP, since it will result in more business being conducted between the U.S. and these partners, will cause those figures to grow considerably.”
Dow notes that travel supports one in nine American jobs. He says that inbound international travel definitely enhances travel industry employment. A new job is created for every 34 overseas visitors that arrive in the United States. Business travel is expected to increase following the agreement.
“We hope that Congress embraces the large preponderance of data showing that trade is a major net-benefit both for the overall economy and job creation, and moves the TPP forward with all haste,” Dow said.
TPP is the cornerstone of the Obama Administration’s economic policy in the Asia Pacific. Asia Pacific includes key destinations for U.S. manufactured goods, agricultural products and services suppliers, and the TPP will further deepen this trade and investment.
TPP countries are the largest goods and services export market of the United States. U.S. goods exports to TPP countries totaled $698 billion in 2013, representing 44 percent of total U.S. goods exports. U.S. exports of agricultural products to TPP countries totaled $63 billion in 2013, 42 percent of total U.S. agricultural exports. U.S. private services exports totaled $172 billion in 2012 (latest data available), 27 percent of total U.S. private services exports to the world. America’s small- and medium-sized enterprises alone exported $247 billion to the Asia-Pacific in 2011 (latest data available).
