“Look Globally”

Americas top trade rep, Rob Portman '78, explains why now is a critical time for the world economy.

AMBASSADOR ROB PORTMAN '78 was appointed U.S. trade representative by President George W. Bush on April 29, 2005. As Americas top trade negotiator, Portman oversees trade-related issues with other countries and serves in the Cabinet as the president's principal trade advisor and spokesman. Prior to his appointment as trade representative, Portman, a Republican, represented Ohio's Second District in Congress for more than a decade.

What's the most pressingtrade issue for the UnitedStates right now?

The most important priority is to better communicate the importance of trade. I left a safe seat in the House and a job that I loved because this is a critical time for the future of international trade, for jobs here at home and for the global economy. I think it is critical that we communicate clearly the benefits of trade—to our own economy and also to the global economy and to the developing world in particular. When we are more successful in doing that, we will have more success promoting trade agreements such as the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which just passed narrowly and was my big project in my first three months.

How concerned should we be aboutAmerica's relatively large trade deficit?

deficit for an extended period of time, I think you make your economy more vulnerable because that builds up surplus dollars overseas that come back here, and in this case are invested in U.S. treasuries. That kind of imbalance over time can create economic risks. In the short run, it's not particularly detrimental to our economy. In fact, we're doing very well relative to the rest of the world. But I think we need to begin to balance that trade deficit. By running such a large trade

When you go back to talk to workers inOhio, how do you explain to them thebenefit of something like outsourcing.

I spoke in Illinois to a large agriculture gathering about the fact that so much of the ag economy is dependent on trade. In fact, one of every three acres is planted for export. When I'm talking to manufacturers in Ohio, I make the point that Americans make up 5 percent of the world's population and nearly 30 percent of the world's economy now, meaning that we need to access those 95 percent of the world's consumers who are outside of our borders. If we don't have access to those consumers—if we don't knock down barriers to trade to allow us access, either through exports or investment—then we lose out. The effects of trade sometimes are not uniform and those who are hurt by trade tend to be the more vocal elements and the people we hear from most as members of Congress, so it makes it a harder political issue than some other economic issues.

What should be the top tradeissues for China and India asthey go through extraordinarygrowth and social change?

From a U.S. perspective, there are really two issues. One is market access. China and India are both creating probably the largest middle classes the world has ever known. We, as Americans, have the ability to benefit from access to those markets. Second is working out our trade disputes, particularly with China. One of our major concerns in China is the theft of intellectual property. This is an area where the United States tends to have a comparative advantage. We're very competitive in software, music, videos. This is where we see widespread piracy of our knowledge creating a disadvantage for American workers and companies. We need to work through some of these differences of opinion and we need to make sure China lives by the rules that have been set up under the World Trade Organization and some of our own trade laws.

China is obviously a big part of your dayto-day portfolio, and if I'm correct, one of your early Chinese experiences was kayaking along the Yangtze River.

When I was at Dartmouth I stumbled down to the Ledyard Canoe Club my freshman year because I was a canoe racer and liked canoeing. I found out that it was actually all about kayaking, so I made a kayak and I was on the kayak club team and did a Ledyard-sponsored 1,800-mile kayak trip down the Rio Grande from source to sea. When I graduated I stayed in touch with my kayaking friends and I went to China right after I graduated from law school. We went down the Yangtze for about 80 miles through the Three Gorges.

What advice do you have for Dartmouthundergrads about the unfolding economiclandscape?

Look globally. We are in an integrated global economy now, and our ability to continue to be a leader in the world economically and otherwise depends on engaging the world. Second, I would say focus on the fundamentals. I was an anthropology major, so it's hardly for me to give advice to people to stick with the science and math and engineering studies that will be so important to our future competitiveness, but that's part of what I'm saying. So I would hope that as important as anthropology is—and I'm glad I studied it—we also continue to have a Dartmouth emphasis on some of those areas that are so important to our global competition. Finally, "be engaged with government policy because there is such a strong interplay between government and business, medicine, law, public service broadly defined and the various fields that Dartmouth students may choose.

CHARLIE WHEELAN is the author of Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science. He lives in Chicago.