Illinois is known for its exports. Among our leading businesses are world-ranging companies like Caterpillar, Archer Daniels Midland and Boeing. Illinois farmers ship a lot of soybeans and corn overseas. Some 23,000 Illinois companies sell abroad.

So it shouldn't need mentioning that trade is a vital part of the state's economy. In recent years, it's also been one of the few bright spots, rising by 64 percent from 2009 to 2012. International trade is good for the state's economy, companies and workers.

But Sen. Dick Durbin is not impressed. The second-ranking senator in the Democratic leadership, he is standing in the way of new trade deals with the European Union and Asian nations.

In an interview with Tribune columnist Melissa Harris, he said he was "critical and skeptical" of a measure President Barack Obama has requested in order to negotiate those agreements. Durbin said it is "very unlikely" the White House will get the legislation passed this year.

Obama has yet to pull out all stops on behalf of trade liberalization, but he's begun trying to advance it. In his State of the Union address, he said that "when ninety-eight percent of our exporters are small businesses, new trade partnerships with Europe and the Asia-Pacific will help them create more jobs." He added, "China and Europe aren't standing on the sidelines. Neither should we."

To achieve new trade agreements that will expand foreign markets for U.S. goods, Obama called on Congress to give him what's called Trade Promotion Authority or TPA - something that has been granted in one form or another to every president since Franklin Roosevelt.

TPA upholds Congress' power to accept or reject any agreement ultimately negotiated with other nations and sent to Capitol Hill by the executive branch for approval. But it stipulates that Congress has to vote on the whole package, rather than amend it or filibuster.

Without that provision, foreign governments would have little incentive to negotiate with administration trade officials, knowing that every point would be subject to nitpicking and revision by Congress. Just as the United States can't afford 535 commanders in chief, it can't afford 535 trade negotiators.

In sum, TPA enables the executive branch to hammer out the many details of how to expand trade. But Congress retains the final say on whether to accept what's agreed on.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid had earlier delivered a brushback pitch to the president. "I'm against fast track," he said. "Everyone would be well advised just to not push this right now." Durbin apparently is inclined to side with his fellow Democratic senator rather than his president. "It is a take-it-or-leave-it approach to trade agreements which really deals members of Congress and their concerns out of the picture," he complained.

But that argument holds no water. In deciding what to demand in a trade deal, the administration will have to keep in mind what Congress wants - and what it won't tolerate. Members and their concerns figure prominently in decisions about how to shape a deal. The White House knows that if it ignores the concerns of Congress, any pact would be dead on arrival.

The real reason for blocking TPA is that doing so allows lawmakers to kill the talks without seeming to reject trade outright. A lot of Democrats in Congress are hostile to the idea of free trade, which organized labor has long resisted. A battle to get the bill through Congress would divide the party and present risks at the polls this November.

After three decades in Congress, Durbin understands what may not be obvious to many of his constituents: opposing TPA amounts to opposing a trade deal - any trade deal. If the president gets the authority and then negotiates a bad accord, Congress still can vote it down. Without the authority, though, the president can't negotiate even a good one.

If Durbin thinks there's no such thing as a good free-trade agreement, he should say so.

If, on the other hand, Durbin does understand the importance of international commerce to Illinois and the potential value of opening up foreign markets and creating more jobs in this employment-starved state, he should push to give Obama the authority the president needs to advance those interests.