For continued growth in Chicago, pass TPP

My small business relies on trade policies that help American companies compete in overseas markets. The Trans-Pacific Partnership will help reduce tariffs and other barriers to trade so that my company can enter new markets and continue creating jobs here in Chicago.

Since entering the export business, my company, Luster Products, has gone from being a small business started by an African American hairstylist selling products in his own salon to an international company exporting to 75 countries and employing 350 people, with a virtual office in Africa.

We're still a small business, but now we're global.

We already do business with some of the countries involved in the TPP agreement, including Australia, New Zealand, and Chile. In those countries, our commodities are subject to high tariffs that cause our distributors to purchase less of our product than they otherwise would, or cherry-pick the cheapest offerings. This hurts our profit margins.

TPP will drastically reduce or eliminate these high tariffs, which will help us expand our exporting operations, create jobs in our community and contribute to the local economy.

TPP helps us in other ways, too. We import raw products for our manufacturing from Malaysia and East Asia, like plastics and chemicals. TPP will lead to standardization of quality, so we know that we're getting exactly what we ordered.

The agreement also includes important intellectual property protections. Small businesses often have difficulty protecting their copyrights because they can't afford the legal resources to do so. We experienced these challenges firsthand when our trademark was infringed upon in China. TPP will help us expand into new markets without fear of losing the valuable intellectual property that is key to our success.

We've already seen how expanding trade with other countries benefits American businesses and our economy. Our company experienced substantial growth in business with African nations after passage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act. This important policy made it easier for us to export materials to Africa for them to manufacture and send back to us to sell.

This kind of international trade is good for all parties involved.

As we continue to diversify our products, Asia has become an attractive market for us. We already get inquiries from Japan and Vietnam, including from American soldiers and their families who want to import our products. TPP will make it that much easier for us to reach these customers.

Exporting accounts for one-fifth of my company's revenue now, and with more than 95 percent of the world's consumers living outside of the U.S., we believe that it could exceed domestic sales in the future. TPP will help make that vision a reality.

I thank President Obama for successfully concluding TPP talks and strongly urge Congress to swiftly pass TPP so that my company and the Chicago economy can continue to grow.

Reginald Maynor is director, international division, at Luster Products Inc. in Chicago.