12.09.10
“I applaud the efforts of President Obama, the auto industry and the United Auto Workers union in working to improve the terms of the Korea Free Trade Agreement. I know that they did everything they could to improve the effect of the agreement on American workers. Unfortunately, however, the changes they succeeded in winning do not go far enough to make this treaty worthy of support.
“Millions of Americans have experienced first-hand the destructive effects of NAFTA-style agreements over the years since NAFTA itself was adopted in 1994, a treaty that has undermined American workers and increased outsourcing of American jobs. In that time, the United States has suffered a net loss of 4.9 million manufacturing jobs and watched 43,000 manufacturing facilities shut down while our trade deficit ballooned. The U.S. International Trade Commission’s study of the Korea FTA concluded that this agreement, too, would increase our trade deficit.
“While the recent agreement on the auto sector provisions of the Korea trade agreement is an improvement over the auto trade terms negotiated by President Bush, the underlying treaty negotiated by President Bush remains intact and includes some of the most troubling aspects of the NAFTA model. The protections for labor standards are too weak and the procedure for policing violations retains a failed model that has not produced a single fine for labor violations in any of the treaties since NAFTA.
“Conversely, the rights granted foreign investors are far too broad and allow foreign corporations to skirt the rule of American law, such as for health and environmental protections, and American courts by using private arbitration panels to demand compensation from US taxpayers for upholding our own labor standards and other essential regulations. I am also concerned that the treaty limits regulation of financial services and does not preserve our ability to follow Buy American policies that support American manufacturing jobs.
“Finally, where the EU-Korea trade treaty requires that 55 percent of all components of Korean cars be manufactured in that country, the proposed U.S.-Korea treaty sets a much lower standard of 35 percent domestic components. This means that up to 65 percent of the components of ‘Korean’ cars could actually be produced in China, Vietnam or other low-wage countries and then imported to the US under terms of the free trade agreement.
“At a time when our economy is struggling to rebuild itself and when the President himself has done so much to pull our country out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, we simply cannot afford another NAFTA-style agreement.
“I look forward to working with President Obama and my Congressional colleagues to craft a new trade model that will allow us to fully engage our trading partners on terms that protect and promote American jobs.”
Chairman Miller Statement on Proposed Korea Free Trade Agreement
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, issued the following statement today on the proposed U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement.“I applaud the efforts of President Obama, the auto industry and the United Auto Workers union in working to improve the terms of the Korea Free Trade Agreement. I know that they did everything they could to improve the effect of the agreement on American workers. Unfortunately, however, the changes they succeeded in winning do not go far enough to make this treaty worthy of support.
“Millions of Americans have experienced first-hand the destructive effects of NAFTA-style agreements over the years since NAFTA itself was adopted in 1994, a treaty that has undermined American workers and increased outsourcing of American jobs. In that time, the United States has suffered a net loss of 4.9 million manufacturing jobs and watched 43,000 manufacturing facilities shut down while our trade deficit ballooned. The U.S. International Trade Commission’s study of the Korea FTA concluded that this agreement, too, would increase our trade deficit.
“While the recent agreement on the auto sector provisions of the Korea trade agreement is an improvement over the auto trade terms negotiated by President Bush, the underlying treaty negotiated by President Bush remains intact and includes some of the most troubling aspects of the NAFTA model. The protections for labor standards are too weak and the procedure for policing violations retains a failed model that has not produced a single fine for labor violations in any of the treaties since NAFTA.
“Conversely, the rights granted foreign investors are far too broad and allow foreign corporations to skirt the rule of American law, such as for health and environmental protections, and American courts by using private arbitration panels to demand compensation from US taxpayers for upholding our own labor standards and other essential regulations. I am also concerned that the treaty limits regulation of financial services and does not preserve our ability to follow Buy American policies that support American manufacturing jobs.
“Finally, where the EU-Korea trade treaty requires that 55 percent of all components of Korean cars be manufactured in that country, the proposed U.S.-Korea treaty sets a much lower standard of 35 percent domestic components. This means that up to 65 percent of the components of ‘Korean’ cars could actually be produced in China, Vietnam or other low-wage countries and then imported to the US under terms of the free trade agreement.
“At a time when our economy is struggling to rebuild itself and when the President himself has done so much to pull our country out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, we simply cannot afford another NAFTA-style agreement.
“I look forward to working with President Obama and my Congressional colleagues to craft a new trade model that will allow us to fully engage our trading partners on terms that protect and promote American jobs.”
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