Free trade is not another election issue

Back in January, Correct Craft President and CEO Bill Yeargin wrote an excellent blog about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and his belief that the industry should support free trade.

Yeargin has been a vocal advocate in the press on how free trade will significantly impact the boating industry. Recently, Yeargin was interviewed by Fortune magazine for an article on free trade. He said:

This is why the TPP would be such a good thing for the boating industry, because all those countries in Asia have big tariffs that will all just go away. The TPP levels the playing field for us, so if one of those countries decide one day to start exporting boats to the U.S., we could compete on equal terms.

The article itself unfortunately takes on a very partisan tone, but that doesn’t make Yeargin’s comments any more important for our industry to voice. Free trade is not some quotable election issue. It’s one that has both bipartisan support in Congress and the support of the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), which Yeargin mentioned in his January blog.

No matter whom you choose to support in November, if you are in the boating industry it is in your best interest to support free trade. As Yeargin wrote, the world economy and technology are changing the types of jobs we have and will have available, as it always has throughout our history, and offer more jobs for the future – which is good for U.S. workers and will hopefully open opportunities for us to bring in new professionals to our exciting industry.