Democratic and Republican administrations have pursued reciprocity in a number of ways, including by exerting unilateral pressure. But the principal instrument for achieving reciprocity has been negotiated trade agreements - multilateral, regional and bilateral - which have provided a means to ensure that other countries grant U.S. products and services access to their markets. Today, the United States still constitutes almost 25 percent of a world economy that is 18 times larger than it was in 1945. We lead the world in agricultural exports, virtually every service industry, and information and communications technology and life sciences, which are building blocks of future prosperity.  The shale revolution has made the United States the world's leading producer of oil and gas. America is the world's most attractive place for foreign investment, which increases competition, promotes innovation and creates jobs.

Last year, the U.S. auto industry, which now includes the domestic "Big 3" as well as Japanese, German, and Korean companies, exported over two million cars and SUVs to more than 100 countries around the world. No country has an economy that matches ours in strength across the board.  It's no accident that we have recovered more quickly and more robustly from the Great Recession than virtually any other country.

Those facts should provide some optimism, but not complacency.  Five years ago, having led the United States through the global economic crisis, President Obama doubled down on our commitment to TPP, which began as a relatively modest negotiation that did not yet include Canada, Mexico or Japan.  Obama recognized that our future prosperity depends on doing business with the vast majority of global citizens who live outside our borders.   He understood that the Asia-Pacific nations were integrating economically, and that the United States faced the danger of being left outside, disadvantaged by the preferential trading agreements these other nations reached among themselves.

The president saw TPP as an opportunity to advance our priorities and values, including enhanced labor rights, environmental protection, an open Internet, and rules for the digital economy.  He realized that the Asia-Pacific nations were seeking not only our military presence, but an economic alternative to compete with China's state capitalism.

No trade agreement is perfect or beneficial to only one party; other nations work hard to protect and advance their interests.  But TPP, as negotiated, delivers on the major promises made by the President and the U.S. Trade Representative, Michael Froman, when Congress passed Trade Promotion Authority last year to allow the President to complete the negotiation.