Obama: Right trade deals will support middle class

After the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes, our businesses have now created 12.6 million new jobs over the past 63 months. More than 16 million Americans have gained health insurance. More kids are graduating from high school and college than ever before. This is real progress, and it's helping more Americans feel secure in our relentlessly-changing economy.

But as any American family will tell you, we've got more work to do. My top priority as president is to make sure that every American who works hard has a chance to get ahead. I believe in what I call "middle-class economics": the idea that our country does best when everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules.

That's why I'm focused on smart new agreements for fair and free trade that level the playing field for our workers, open new markets for our businesses, and hold other countries to the kinds of high standards that Americans are proud to hold ourselves to here at home. I'd be the first to agree that past trade deals haven't always lived up to the hype, but I also believe that in the 21st century economy, the right kind of trade deals will accelerate America's comeback and support our middle-class.

In our new global economy, 95 percent of the world's consumers are outside our borders, and the world's fastest-growing markets are in Asia. We don't need an unfair advantage in these markets, but we do need the chance to compete. Because when the playing field is level, American workers win.

I believe this is the right thing to do for American families, or I wouldn't be doing it. This is a chance to expand workers' rights, protect the environment, promote a free and open Internet, and support robust new measures to crack down on countries that break the rules. It's a chance to make it easier for more workers and businesses to export goods and services around the world stamped with three proud words: Made in America. It's a chance to make sure that we, and not countries like China, write the rules in the 21st century.

The good news is that Democrats and Republicans in Congress have come together to support something called Trade Promotion Authority, which will help the United States negotiate and enforce strong, high-standard trade deals. I want to thank the members of Congress from both parties who are voting to expand opportunity for our workers and our businesses.

But there's more that Congress needs to do to support our workers in the new economy. Today, a 40-year-old program known as Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) that provides vital support, like job-training and community college education, to American workers each year is set to expire soon. There is bipartisan support in Congress to renew and expand this program that will cover an estimated 100,000 workers per year. For the sake of these workers, their families, and their communities, I'm urging members of Congress to renew TAA.

If Congress can get this done, we can begin to finalize trade deals that support the types of higher-skill, higher-wage jobs at which Americans excel. For example, right now we're working on a Trans-Pacific Partnership that includes 11 countries, including fast-growing markets from around the Asia-Pacific region. This agreement reflects our values in ways that previous agreements have not. It's the most progressive trade deal in history. It includes strong provisions for workers and for the environment. And unlike past agreements, those rules are enforceable, so we can hold accountable any countries who break them.

This is the kind of deal I'm talking about when I say that we have the chance to rework trade in a way that works for working Americans. We're mindful of the mistakes of the past, but we're not limited by them. Instead, we're looking toward the future. That's how we shaped the last century, and it's how we can shape the next one, too.

After one of the worst recessions in our history, we've emerged more free to write our own future than nearly any nation on Earth. Let's make sure that future is one in which more Americans can compete, get ahead, and win in the global economy. That's my goal. That's what I've been fighting for every day I've held this office. And that's what smart trade agreements can help us do.

BARACK OBAMA is the president of the United States. Contact: (202) 456-1414.