Exports are biggest bright spots in US economy: Obama

US President Barack Obama today said exports have been one of the biggest bright spots in the American economy and are top priority for his administration.
"One of the biggest bright spots in our economy has been exports; the fact that 'Made in America' means something and has provided a boost to our domestic economy, and has reminded the world just how competitive we are," Obama said at a meeting of the Export Council.
"This has been a top priority from the start. Part of the reason we set up this Export Council was to make sure that we are in a position to meet our goal of doubling exports during the course of a fairly short period of time. And we now sell more goods overseas than ever before," he said.

Noting that the current account deficit and trade deficits have narrowed as significantly as has been seen in a very long time, Obama said part of that is because the US is importing less foreign oil and increasing domestic production.
He said that a lot of it is also because the US is selling a lot of great products all around the world.
"And this council has done a great job in helping to guide our policies," he said.

"We've got large businesses, we've got small businesses. We've got medium-sized businesses, we've got services as well as manufacturers," Obama said.

Observing that the US is on track to export more this year, Obama said last year USD 1 billion in exports supported nearly 5,000 jobs in the US.
"So for every billion dollars that we sell, that's 5,000 new jobs right here in the US," he said, adding that his administration will focus on exports.
The US, he said, is in the process of trying to complete negotiations around a Trans-Pacific Partnership.
"You're talking about the largest, most dynamic, fastest- growing market in the world...We are very far along in trying to get that deal done -- raising standards, opening up markets that previously have been closed, getting the kinds of protections, like IPR protections, that are so important to American businesses," he said.

He said much was still to be done, "since we typically are the best innovators, making sure that services are allowed to compete in many of these markets, because we do services better than anybody else and those are markets that oftentimes are the most parochial, most encumbered by regulation and have most frequently been closed," Obama said.
"So we're going to be pushing ahead not only on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but we also have now our Trans-atlantic effort, where we can see if we can enhance what is already robust trade with Europe. It amounts to the largest trading relationship in the world by far, and we think we can do even better. And so we're going to be moving on that front as well," he said.

"We're going to need trade promotion authority through Congress," Obama said.