Trade agreements fail

Even though President Barack Obama recently said the U.S. is selling more exports to South Korea, it’s just not true. U.S. goods exports to Korea dropped, and the trade gap increased 37 percent since the Korea Free Trade Agreement was implemented last year.

These numbers mean tens of thousands of U.S. jobs lost. No matter what side of the aisle they sit on, we need to call out our elected officials when their work isn’t adding up. President Obama isn’t just exaggerating: It’s a lie to say the Korea FTA is working.

We need to talk about this because the Korea FTA is serving as a model for other trade agreements, including the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership, which will gut even more U.S. jobs, increase medicine prices and ban “Buy American.” It’s clear the Korea FTA is causing more damage than good and we have to stop other trade agreements from more of these same results.

Please contact the White House and your legislators and tell them to stop these phony so-called free-trade deals.

Christopher Lawrence

Spokane