http://www.economyincrisis.org/President Barack Obama, reneging on major campaign promises about trade reform, is pushing Congress to support the Korean Free Trade Agreement.
Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results. After the millions of jobs NAFTA, the WTO and CAFTA have cost us, why should we expect this deal to turn out differently?
Even the UAW (which was bailed out by taxpayers a couple years ago) has caved, with President Bob King endorsing the deal. King said in a press release, “This agreement is an important step toward a global rule-based trade system, an important step in giving labor a real voice in trade negotiations.”
What? This agreement is the next step in killing off American manufacturing, and will hurt the rights of workers, as it specifically forbids reference to the International Labor Organization's labor standards.
Also, when President Bush first introduced the idea, the International Trade Commission released a study showing this deal will only increase the trade deficit, as previous free trade agreements have done in America. Export growth under agreements such as NAFTA has been half that to the rest of our trading partners. Again, why should we expect this deal to turn out differently?
This treaty does nothing to eliminate Korean discriminatory practices, such as auditing people who purchase American cars. It doesn't even create equal tariff rates, as Korea will only deal with a 2 percent rate versus 4 percent for the United States. While some concessions were made for the auto and beef industries, they will not be enough to offset the negatives of this arrangement. This deal, even after negotiated changes, still makes no sense for the American public to accept.
This is primed to be a nasty political battle, with 110 members of the House of Representatives already announcing their opposition to the bill. Also, during the 2010 elections, a record number of candidates campaigned against exporting U.S jobs, the vast majority of whom won their election.
The wildcard will be Tea Party Republicans, who campaigned vigorously against free trade policies. After Barack Obama's turncoat behavior, it will be interesting to see if they will side with the American people, a majority of which are now firmly against such economically damaging treaties, or with traditional Republicans such as John Boehner, who strongly supported NAFTA?
With unemployment on the rise again, and projected to be high for the next five years (according to the Fed), we should not be involved in yet another one-sided 'free' trade deal. We need to do everything we can to fight this, as this would be yet another disaster for the American economy.
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