NRF Welcomes Votes on Free Trade Agreement Legislation

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The National Retail Federation issued the following statement from President and CEO Matthew Shay welcoming today’s expected passage of legislation to implement pending Free Trade Agreements with Panama, Colombia and South Korea.

“This is a major step toward free and open trade and the creation of jobs for American workers. Limits on international trade have been allowed to hold back our nation’s economy for far too long, and tearing down those barriers is one of the keys to economic recovery. We appreciate President Obama’s leadership on this balanced package that has won widespread bipartisan support. We urge him to sign this legislation into law as quickly so American businesses and workers can begin to reap its benefits as soon as possible.”

The House and Senate are each scheduled to vote on the FTA legislation today, and easy passage is expected in both chambers. The votes come as Shay is in China as part of a series of international visits intended to strengthen the U.S. retail industry’s ties overseas. Increased global outreach is a key component of NRF’s Retail Means Jobs campaign.

As the world’s largest retail trade association and the voice of retail worldwide, NRF’s global membership includes retailers of all sizes, formats and channels of distribution as well as chain restaurants and industry partners from the United States and more than 45 countries abroad. In the United States, NRF represents an industry that includes more than 3.6 million establishments and which directly and indirectly accounts for 42 million jobs – one in four U.S. jobs. The total U.S. GDP impact of retail is $2.5 trillion annually, and retail is a daily barometer of the health of the nation’s economy. www.nrf.com.