Vote no on TPA
The March 16 Roundtable article urging Congress to pass Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) so we can enter into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP), and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the European Union would be worse for America than the North American Free Trade Agreement of 1993.
NAFTA was sold to us on the same promises of more trade and jobs. The reality is that in 1993 we had a $1.66 billion trade surplus with Mexico, and since 2010 we have been running $60 billion annual trade deficits because Chrysler, Ford, General Motors and other companies have transferred production plants to Mexico.
In 1993, our annual trade deficit with Canada was $10.7 billion. By 2005, it had risen to $78.4 billion. The federal government program known as Trade Adjustment Assistance had by 2010 certified over 720,000 jobs lost in America due to NAFTA.
The TTP has only five sections out of 29 that deal with trade. The other 24 cover global rules and regulations from climate change to international courts that destroy our nation’s independence and have nothing to do with selling wheat or potatoes.
To help save our jobs and American sovereignty, urge Congress to vote no on TPA.
Steve Dunham
Spokane