High-tech show a free-trade wonder

The holidays might be over, but January in Las Vegas means it’s beginning to look a lot like the International Consumer Electronics Show.

McCarran International Airport is bustling with 140,000 people arriving from 140 countries. Hotels and casinos are welcoming guests, and taxis and restaurants are enjoying an endless stream of customers. The tourism and convention businesses are at the core of the economy of this great city, with the International CES alone pumping more than $200 million into local coffers each year.

Imagine Las Vegas without this steady stream of imports and you get a sense of what our country would look like without free trade.

Trade — the flow of goods and services between nations — is a major component of U.S. economic growth. It allows industries such as consumer electronics to create high-paying American jobs and contribute to local, national and global economies. U.S. imports and exports are expanding businesses, growing employment and improving the standard of living at home and abroad. It is vital to our nation’s continued health and wealth.

But international trade is being threatened by a troubling resurgence of protectionism. Fear-mongering media actors are busy engaging in one-sided, misleading theatrics that seek to vilify businesses and scare the viewing public. For every intimidating sound bite, there is an American employed and a family supported thanks to a trade agreement. For every allegation of trade’s harm to the middle class, there is an American town revitalized by a small business, able to compete because it can export its products to new markets. For every alleged protectionist wrong there are countless, concrete free trade rights.

Free trade is particularly important to America’s small businesses, which comprise 97 percent of all U.S. direct exporters, generate between 60 and 80 percent of new American jobs annually and 29 percent of all U.S. export trade, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. The Consumer Electronics Association — producer of the International CES — boasts 2,200 U.S. corporate members. A full 80 percent are small businesses that rely on trade with other countries not only to succeed, but in many instances to stay in business.

Many of the show’s 2,700 exhibitors also are small businesses that have put everything on the line to showcase their technologies before an international audience. They understand what protectionists do not: that conducting business with 27,000 international attendees, in addition to the 113,000 domestic attendees, will reap rewards beyond what could be attained by staying at home and simply doing business in isolation.

And other big Las Vegas shows like the National Association of Broadcasters, the Specialty Equipment Market Association and the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association also rely on international exhibitors and attendees. Indeed, international trade is what keeps the Las Vegas convention industry humming and hotel rooms full.

Innovation is the hallmark of our industry and will dominate this week’s headlines, but tomorrow’s innovator will not be able to bring that next groundbreaking invention to market without the ability to trade outside U.S. borders. A single country simply cannot produce everything necessary to create today’s high-tech wonders.

High tech is America’s largest export sector. Let’s keep it that way by supporting free trade.

The right action today is to fervently support policies that facilitate trade between nations, such as free trade agreements and presidential Trade Promotion Authority. Congress will consider free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea this year, and CEA is urging their swift passage, as well as reauthorization of TPA, which allows the president to negotiate workable trade agreements. These steps will create high-paying U.S. jobs and help ensure the continued pre-eminence of the U.S. economy.

The United States is a great nation teetering over a great divide. We can either cower behind the false security of protectionism and hope for the best, or we can embrace America’s trademark openness by passing free trade agreements and reauthorizing Trade Promotion Authority.

Just as the city of Las Vegas opens its doors each year to the International CES, so too should the country open its arms to free trade. Viva free trade.

Gary Shapiro is president and chief executive officer of the Consumer Electronics Association.