By Alabama Public Radio
Mobile, AL – U-S Commerce Secretary Donald Evans was in Mobile yesterday where he told community leaders that the keys to economic recovery in Alabama and elsewhere are embracing free trade and supporting the Bush administration's efforts to open new markets.
Evans says the United States is obliged to spread its system of capitalism to other countries struggling to find their place in a complex global economy. He says domestic companies and workers will also benefit from those efforts. Evans also says federal commerce officials have invested nearly 8-million dollars in Alabama during fiscal 2003. He says that money has helped boost business development and job growth in the state.
A boost seems needed. In recent years, Alabama has lost thousands of jobs in its textile, paper, timber, steel and chemical industries. Many of those jobs were lost to foreign competition.