When a Seattle-based shipping company announced plans last year for a deepwater cargo port that it promised would create hundreds of jobs, it looked like good news. This waterfront community of 75,000 just south of the Canadian border had suffered the loss of its primary industry when a large paper mill began closing down in 2001. Then a nationwide housing and construction boom ended in 2007 when the market tanked. But the proposed Gateway Pacific terminal near Bellingham has opened up a larger debate about U.S. competitiveness in a changing global economy.