Free Trade Agreements Improve Manufacturing Industry

On Friday, President Obama signed off on the first three free trade agreements of his administration with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. These agreements will most likely be the first and last made during his current term. The deals have the potential to be worth billions of dollars to American exporters and could create tens of thousands of jobs, including thousands of jobs in the manufacturing industry. The three deals took years to finalize, therefore the trouble it took to pass the agreements makes it all the more likely that there will not be any further bilateral agreements during this presidential term. Republicans have accused the administration of taking too long to develop new free trade partners and as a result said many U.S. exporters were losing out to foreign rivals. The agreement with South Korea, America’s seventh largest trading partner, alone is said to have the ability to produce almost 70,000 jobs. Democrats also supported Obama’s signing of legislation to extend a program that helps workers hurt by foreign trade. The treaty with South Korea could increase exports by $10 billion, essentially eliminating the current trade gap. Exports could also go up another $1 million per year in Colombia.

Manufacturers have asked for these agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama for a while in an effort to create jobs and make us a greater global competitor. However, with hundreds of thousands of jobs potentially about to penetrate the job market, proper industrial skills training is all the more important. ITC Learning is committed to training and retraining industrial employees. We offer employers and employees the chance to improve business and production with instrumentation training, maintenance skills training and operations training. No matter what your training needs are ITC Learning is sure to have the right industrial skills training program for your business. Not only is our online courseware easily accessible and user friendly but by utilizing SCORM, or Shareable Content Object Reference Model, our web based e-learning programs guide learners through a fixed path of skills training courseware tailored specifically to your company’s training needs. Our Learning Management System also makes administration, tracking and reporting your skills training programs a breeze. Contact ITC Learning today to find out how we can help train your employees in an effort to increase output, quality and ultimately your bottom line.

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net & Sujin Jetkasettakorn