Ninth District Congressman Adam Smith is holding a "conversation on trade" at his office in Tacoma next week on Wednesday, July 1 from 8:15 to 9:15 a.m.  Space is limited and RSVP is required.  Please contact Debra Entenman at Debra.Entenman@mail.house.gov or (253) 593-6604.  Rep. Smith's office is located at 2209 Pacific Avenue, Suite B, Tacoma, WA 98402.

As most of you are well aware, trade is enormously important to Washington state, as both importer but mostly as exporter.  Our state exports a wide range of high value goods and services, which include aircraft, agricultural products, other industrial machinery and equipment, software, etc. 

The Ports of Seattle and Tacoma handle large amounts of barge traffic that has goods destined locally but mostly to areas beyond the state's borders.  The jobs that trade supports are high-paying, high impact jobs from longshore workers to truck drivers to farmers and software developers.

With high-tech goods, some of the key trade issues are protecting intellecutal property as counterfeiting and pirating of software, games and other digital media is unfortunately all too common in places like China.

If you live in the 9th Congressional district and want to express your thoughts about trade policy, please contact Rep. Smith's office and attend the July 1 meeting.  Congressman Smith's website is here:  http://adamsmith.house.gov/