Guttierez: Exports buoyed U.S. economy

U.S. exports accounted for more than 40 percent of the 2.2 percent increase in real economic growth during 2007 and helped offset the effects of the U.S. housing downturn, Commerce Secretary Carlos Guttierez said in testimony Thursday designed to convince Congress to approve pending free trade deals with Colombia, South Korea and Panama.

Sales of U.S. goods and services to foreign countries ($1.6 trillion) last year were the second-largest contributor to Gross Domestic Product after consumer spending and still accounted for 26 percent of GDP growth even after factoring in for imports, he said at a hearing before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

More than 20 percent of U.S. agricultural and 20 percent of manufactured goods by volume were exported last year, helping to lower the trade deficit for the first time since 2001.

On Wednesday, President Bush urged Congress to vote on the Colombia free trade agreement after it returns from Easter break. He told the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce that reducing trade barriers would benefit U.S. national security by helping promote democracy and jobs as a counterweight to the drug trafficking industry. The agreement would also give U.S. companies the same duty-free access enjoyed by Colombian firms.

Every day that Congress goes without approving this agreement is a day that our businesses, large and small, become less competitive. It's missed opportunity, Bush said.

The president, without referring to Sen. Hillary Clinton by name, dismissed as dangerous political pandering the presidential candidate's call for a timeout from trade to first correct existing deals.

In the 21st century, a timeout from trade would be a timeout from growth, a timeout from jobs and a timeout from good results. And retreating from the opportunities of the global economy would be a reckless mistake that our country cannot afford, he said.