Colorado may seem an unlikely player in the international economy. But goods grown or manufactured in Colorado end up on shelves in 210 countries around the globe. And more than 680,000 jobs - more than one in five jobs in the state - depend on trade.

That economic impact could be even more significant if existing barriers to trade were eliminated. But Congress has failed to approve Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), an important tool that allows the president and lawmakers to collaborate more adeptly in forging new agreements with other nations.

Colorado businesses enjoy a bigger global market for their products when U.S. trade agreements knock down foreign trade barriers. In 2012, countries that signed free-trade agreements with the United States purchased 11.7 times the amount of Colorado goods per capita than those nations that lacked such an arrangement.

Overall, the export sector of Colorado's economy has grown 15 percent faster than the state's GDP for the past decade. And small businesses especially benefit: Most of Colorado's exporters are small or medium companies that employ fewer than 500 people.

Colorado residents also benefit from imports of foreign goods. International trade increases choices and lowers prices for consumers. In fact, by some estimates, trade and investment-liberalization policies save the average four-person Colorado household more than $10,000 a year.

Furthermore, over 60 percent of the goods brought into the United States from other countries are inputs - and access to these low-cost, elementary resources helps strengthen the competitive advantage of American manufacturers, making it less expensive to build products and facilities here at home. Additionally, foreign-owned companies eagerly invest in Colorado, providing more than 77,000 jobs within the state.

Trade also strengthens the American economy as a whole, supporting 38.1 million jobs nationwide. In 2012 alone, the United States exported $2.2 trillion in goods and services. That's a 48 percent increase since 2009, made possible in large part by new trade agreements with such countries as Costa Rica, Peru, Colombia, South Korea and Panama.

In total, the United States is a signatory to 14 free-trade agreements with 20 countries. And new free-trade agreements could offer even greater expansion, helping the United States come closer to President Obama's goal of doubling American exports by 2015.

Understanding the significant benefits of international trade, Congress has given every president since the 1930s authority to conduct the negotiations for new trade deals -- that is, until now.

TPA permits the President to bargain with other countries, working out mutually beneficial trade terms and then sending that proposed agreement to Congress to be finalized. Since FDR, both Republican and Democratic presidents have used this tool to more efficiently set the terms of trade deals.

But TPA was last approved in 2002, and it expired in 2007, just before President Obama took office. Without such an arrangement in place, trade negotiations become much less efficient and subject to politics. Meanwhile, American workers and businesses suffer as a result.

The last time a President lacked TPA was in the '90s, and the experience should serve as a warning. While other countries rapidly sealed bilateral trade agreements, the United States lagged behind, encumbered by the unwieldy default process for negotiating and approving a deal.

By 2002, 130 preferential trade agreements and investment agreements had been settled worldwide -- but the United States was included in only three of them. American businesses faced costly tariffs and limited access to the global markets, and consumers saw fewer options and higher prices.

Though critics claim Congress cedes political powers through TPA, lawmakers actually strengthen the democratic process by approving it. The arrangement eliminates unnecessary snags in the negotiation of trade deals, but it also establishes a clear, efficient consultation process between Congress, the President, and the businesses, workers and farmers who have a stake in any proposed agreement.

If the United States wants to make the most of the economic opportunities that abound in the global marketplace, our lawmakers should pass TPA as soon as possible.

International trade is an essential component of our nation's economic growth, and its effects will be especially felt in Colorado, where the benefits are already being enjoyed. By empowering the President to negotiate more nimbly, the United States would be able to better advance pending trade negotiations.