The Department of Commerce estimates that every increase of $1 billion in exports sustains nearly 6,000 jobs, and that export-related jobs pay on average 18 percent more than jobs focused on the domestic market. We’d be foolish to start a trade war by imposing tariffs on products from China, Mexico or other countries, which would increase prices and invite retaliation that would hurt American exports.

To understand how dismantling trade barriers helps the country, we also need to take a broader view of the American economy, and not focus solely on disruptions and lost jobs in particular sectors. And among major advanced countries, our growth rate is nothing to be ashamed of, especially given substantial economic headwinds from abroad.

Exports remain a steadily growing component of United States gross domestic product, which is even more significant in light of declining growth in global trade. Job growth in 2014-15 was as strong as it was in the 1990s, hourly wages have grown at their fastest pace since the Great Recession and unemployment today is less than 5 percent. China’s growth rate remains higher but is widely believed to be overstated and has fallen to a 25-year low.

Concerns about job losses are serious, but it is misguided to blame trade agreements, or trade generally. For example, while the North American Free Trade Agreement is routinely criticized as sending American jobs abroad, data from the Peterson Institute shows that in the seven years after the pact’s passage, nearly 17 million jobs were added in this country and unemployment fell to 4.0 percent, from 6.9 percent. Advances in technology and globalization affect productivity and employment in different ways in different sectors, regardless of trade agreements.