The Obama administration continues to advance the negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an agreement with 11 other countries, including Canada, Mexico, Vietnam, Malaysia, Chile, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Brunei and Japan.

TPP represents the most economically significant trade agreement the United States has negotiated to date, and it will have a large impact on all states and all sectors of the U.S. economy. That’s why it is so critical to get it right — not only for Maine, but for our nation’s overall competitiveness.

Getting trade right has been difficult for the last several administrations. Mainers have seen firsthand how free-trade agreements have hurt our communities because they didn’t offer equal opportunities for American workers.

Over the last two decades, hundreds of manufacturing facilities have closed their doors in Maine. Our communities have seen those jobs go overseas and never come back. They’ve learned that Trade Adjustment Assistance isn’t sufficient when an entire town’s economy gets offshored to a country with lower labor standards, lessstringent regulations, stateowned enterprises or currency manipulation policies. They’ve come to be suspicious of trade deals that promise huge export opportunities but instead result in a flood of imports that force our businesses to close.

TPP’s size and significance makes it that much more critical that the agreement does not contribute to the race to the bottom in labor and environment standards, does not tolerate stateowned enterprises or currency manipulation, and does not allow countries to block our access to their market. If these issues aren’t addressed fully, American jobs will be lost.

Japan’s auto sector is a great example of the challenges facing our trade negotiators in the TPP talks that have to be addressed.

The U.S. market is open to products from other countries. Japan’s market, however, is not. This disparity is particularly obvious in the auto sector.

We have a competitive domestic industry and more than half of the automobiles sold in the U.S. are made by foreign automakers. Japan intentionally keeps their auto market closed through regulations and currency manipulation policies to benefit their domestic auto companies at the expense of foreign ones. As a result, Japan exports 130 vehicles here for every American vehicle exported to Japan. Giving Japan greater access to our market without ensuring equal access to theirs will undermine the American auto sector and ship more jobs overseas. This means the estimated 18,000 auto-related jobs in Maine will be at risk.

And if the agreement does not require Vietnam to end its childlabor and forced-labor practices, American garment companies will have to compete against businesses that violate international labor standards. These horrific practices cannot be tolerated and certainly shouldn’t be encouraged by an agreement that gives greater access to our market. Nearly 1,500 Mainers work at approximately 14 footwear manufacturing companies throughout our state. These companies have to compete against Vietnam’s state-owned footwear companies that receive advantageous loans and funding directly from the government. If TPP doesn’t address these and other concerns, companies like New Balance won’t be able to compete against Vietnamese imports or in Vietnam’s market on a level playing field. And jobs in Maine could be lost because of it.

I’m working in Congress to weigh in aggressively with the United States trade representative and the president on these issues.

In numerous letters to and meetings with the administration, my colleagues and I have urged them to include meaningful currency manipulation provisions in the agreement. We’ve underscored the importance of making sure state-owned enterprises don’t benefit from the agreement, providing a way for our companies to take action if they do. And we will continue to highlight how critical it is for the agreement to break down regulatory barriers and address labor practices that not only disadvantage American companies but also violate international standards.

Hearing directly from Mainers will bolster our case that the TPP agreement needs to create jobs — not offshore them.

I encourage all Mainers in the manufacturing and service sectors to write to President Obama and to Ambassador Michael Froman, the United States trade representative.

Tell them we can’t have another agreement that sends more jobs overseas. Tell them we have to get it right by leveling the playing field. We can’t afford not to.

U.S. REP. MIKE MICHAUD, D-2nd District, is a 2014 Democratic candidate for governor.