World Trade Week, 2016

Proclamation 9449 of May 13, 2016

World Trade Week, 2016

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

The United States of America cannot afford to sit on
the sidelines of the global economy. With over 95
percent of our Nation's potential customers living
outside our borders, trade agreements are a vital part
of our agenda for creating jobs and growing our
economy--and smart trade agreements that level the
playing field for American workers and businesses are a
vital piece of middle-class economics. During World
Trade Week, we reaffirm the importance of global trade,
and we redouble our efforts to pursue trade deals that
reflect American values and give our people a fair shot
at success.

America's small businesses employ more than half of all
Americans, and they represent 98 percent of our
Nation's exporters. I am committed to a trade agenda
that includes strong, enforceable provisions in our
agreements that help our businesses--large and small--
support higher-paying jobs and ship products stamped
``Made in the USA'' around the world. My Administration
has ramped up enforcement of our trade laws like never
before. Last year, I renewed and expanded the Trade
Adjustment Assistance program, providing job training
and other assistance to American workers. And earlier
this year, I signed bipartisan legislation that helps
us enforce our trade agreements--helping ensure that
other countries play by the rules.

Some of our greatest economic opportunities abroad are
in the Asia-Pacific region. For more than 5 years, the
United States negotiated a new, forward-looking trade
deal that puts workers first and ensures we write the
rules of the road for trade in the 21st century. The
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) brings 12 countries
representing nearly 40 percent of the global economy
together to trade and invest in the Asia-Pacific--one
of the world's fastest growing regions. The TPP
includes fully enforceable provisions that ensure a
free and open Internet, respect intellectual property
rights, protect the environment, and uphold worker
rights. It eliminates more than 18,000 taxes imposed by
other countries on American products, and it bolsters
our leadership abroad while supporting good jobs here
at home. The United States signed TPP this year, and I
will continue working with the Congress to enact it as
soon as possible.

The largest trade and investment relationship in the
world is between the United States and the European
Union--yet too many barriers remain in the way of even
greater trade and investment between us. That is why,
together, we have moved forward with the Trans-Atlantic
Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP), which will
eliminate tariffs, simplify procedures, bridge
differences in regulations, and cut red tape. T-TIP
also enforces strong standards, and it will reinforce
our larger trans-Atlantic relationship--the foundation
of our prosperity and security since World War II.

Our global economy's growth is fueled by trade. While
understandable skepticism exists about trade,
particularly in places that have been hit hard by trade
deals of the past, we cannot ignore the realities of
the new economy. Rather, we must set the highest
standards for our trade agreements, enforce the
commitments and obligations of our trading partners,
and help write the rules of the road for trade in the
21st-century global economy, as we have done with TPP
and will do through T-TIP. And we must continue

to harness the dynamism and entrepreneurship inherent
to who we are as a people and enable Americans to sell
the best products and ideas in the world to every
corner of the world. This week, let us renew our
commitment to that mission and work together toward a
future of greater opportunity for all.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim May 15 through May
21, 2016, as World Trade Week. I encourage all
Americans to visit www.WhiteHouse.gov/Trade and to
observe this week with events, trade shows, and
educational programs that celebrate and inform
Americans about the benefits of trade to our Nation and
the global economy.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord two
thousand sixteen, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and fortieth.