Ocotober 12: Kaptur Opposes Three Trade Agreements, Urges ‘New Direction’ That Puts American Workers First

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur today urged colleagues to reject proposed "free trade" agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, comparing them to the NAFTA deal that killed American jobs. She called for a "new course" on trade that will put American workers first.

"Creating jobs should be our number one priority, not killing jobs," said Congresswoman Kaptur. "These unfair, unbalanced agreements will not have a demonstrable, positive impact on job creation. We have lost six million manufacturing jobs in the past decade. Enough is enough.

"These latest agreements simply continue the failed trade policies embodied by NAFTA. We have seen how these agreements have led to the outsourcing of U.S. jobs and production. We need a new direction in trade policy that puts the needs of working American families first."

Kaptur, who helped lead the historic fight against NAFTA in 1993, is the sponsor of the Trade Balancing Act (H.R. 171), which would require the president to address trade imbalances with major trading partners. She is also the sponsor of the NAFTA Accountability Act (H.R. 2297) that would require a renegotiation of the agreement.

Congresswoman Kaptur called the proposed agreement with South Korea "unfair and unbalanced" with respect to the automobile industry, which she called "the cornerstone of our economy in Northern Ohio." She cited Economic Policy Institute estimates that the U.S.-South Korea agreement would cost America up to 159,000 jobs.

Congresswoman Kaptur said Colombia has one of the worst labor rights records in the world. In the past 25 years, she said, more than 2,800 Colombian union members have been killed, including 22 union leaders this year alone. "It is a slap in the face to working men and working women to reward a country where union members can be targeted for assassination simply for standing up for working people and exercising the right to organize," Kaptur said.

She characterized Panama as "historically one of the world's major tax havens for corporations and millionaires that refuse to pay their fair share. It is based on the same failed trade model as NAFTA, with the same provisions that undercut Buy America provisions and provided special rights to foreign corporations to challenge U.S. public interest laws."

Watch Kaptur's latest speeches on the House floor regarding these trade agreements.

		October 12: We Don't Have Any Balanced Trade Accounts. These Deficits Snuff Out Economic Growth. Didn't Anybody Here Take Math?
		October 12: All NAFTA-Type Trade Accords Have Been Job Losers
		October 12: I Oppose the Trade Agreements with Colombia, Panama, and S. Korea
		October 11: Every Single Year We Have a Trade Deficit with South Korea. Why Do We Want to Make it Worse?
		October 11: The Panama Agreement Undermines the Buy American Policies that Reinvest in our Communities
		October 11: It's Time for America to Negotiate Fair Trade Agreements that Create Jobs in America