US state governors urge Congress to support trade pacts Fourteen US state governors - mainly Republicans - are urging Congress to support trade deals with the EU and Pacific Rim nations that are being negotiated by the Obama administration, as the political debate on trade heats up. Citing "great potential to help our country compete in a dynamic global economy," the governors - including Susana Martinez of New Mexico and Rick Scott of Florida - on Monday sent a letter to congressional leaders urging their backing for the agreements. "We believe that the national and global economy can grow at a more robust pace and that trade liberalisation will be a key component of that future growth," they said in the letter, which was also sent to President Barack Obama. Enacting comprehensive agreements improves the economic standing of all parties. International trade is not a zero-sum game and regulatory co-operation, done properly, can improve the efficiency of our regulatory agencies," they wrote. The letter specifically cited the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks with the EU, the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations among 12 Pacific Rim nations, and the plurilateral Trade in Services Agreement being considered in Geneva. State governors often play an important role in trade policy as they try to compete for foreign investment and for establishing their states as export hubs. But they can sometimes be sceptical of open trade. For instance, several US states have adopted, or are considering adopting, "Buy America" provisions for their government contracts, to the irritation of US trading partners. The letter may mark the start of a more aggressive campaign by state governors in support of Mr Obama's ambitious second-term trade liberalisation agenda. Particularly encouraging for the White House is that some very conservative state governors, such as Sam Brownback of Kansas and Mike Pence of Indiana - are on board with the agreements, even amid doubts about the Tea Party's appetite for trade deals. But the impact of state governors on the political debate surrounding trade needs to be tested further. Many prominent Republican governors - such as Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Chris Christie of New Jersey, John Kasich of Ohio and Rick Perry of Texas - did not sign the letter. Only two Democratic governors - Mike Beebe of Arkansas and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island - signed, with notable absences from Mr Obama's own party including Jerry Brown of California and Andrew Cuomo of New York. Other letters are circulating, however, and more public officials are expected to weigh into the congressional debate on trade in 2014. The first trade item on the agenda for Congress in January will be a bipartisan bill to grant Mr Obama "fast track authority" to pass trade deals quickly through Congress, on a set timetable and with no amendments. Such legislation, which lapsed in 2007 and is known as Trade Promotion Authority, is seen as a proxy for Congress's appetite for the deals themselves.