MAY 6, 2011:NWLP
5/3/11
9:54 AM
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Schrader favors Korea trade deal; balks at TRADE Act
Oregon Congressman Kurt Schrader
(D-5th District) told labor leaders at an
April 26 breakfast that he is “leaning
strongly in favor” of the Korea Free
Trade Agreement and is unlikely to sup-
port the Trade Reform, Accountability,
Development and Employment
(TRADE) Act. He still is undecided on
trade deals with Colombia and Panama.
His positions run counter to the
AFL-CIO, which opposes all of the
free trade agreements and supports the
TRADE Act to create a fairer and more
balanced trade policy.
The Korea pact is the largest trade
deal of its type since NAFTA. It could
be voted on this summer.
Schrader maintains a trade deal with
Korea will boost Oregon’s exports and
create jobs for the state, which is strate-
gically located on the Pacific Rim. He
believes that U.S. consumers learned a
lesson from the Great Recession and will
no longer consume more than they earn.
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“So if we want to get our economy
back and put you guys back to work,
we’ve got to have you making stuff for
people who are going to buy it,” he said.
“And if the American consumer is only
going to buy X — and that’s way below
where we’re going to get full employ-
ment — I want to sell stuff to Korea. I
want to sell it to England, I want to sell
it to other countries.”
As for the TRADE Act, Schrader de-
scribed it as “too dictatorial” and “very,
very, very, very prescriptive.”
He said portions of the Act — those
covering labor standards, environmental
regulations, and investment provisions
— are reasonable and enforceable, but
other elements are too specific.
“Let’s put it this way,” he explained,
“if a foreign country came to me with
the TRADE Act, I’d say ‘go to hell.’ It
would basically be giving away my sov-
ereignty.”
Schrader asserts that proponents of
the TRADE Act don’t really expect it to
pass. “They’re interested in making sure
that these so-called ‘free trade’ agree-
ments become ‘fair trade’ agreements,”
he said.
Contacted by the Labor Press,
Arthur Stamoulis, director of the union-
backed Oregon Fair Trade Campaign,
pointed to a report by the International
Trade Commission (ITC) that projects
the Korea FTA will increase the overall
U.S. trade deficit, resulting in net job
losses. In addition, the study suggests
that good-paying industries like autos,
electronics and other manufacturing are
among those that will be hit the hardest.
“Not only will we be losing more
jobs than created, but the jobs lost pay
more,” Stamoulis said.
The labor-supported Economic Pol-
icy Institute goes even further, predict-
ing that the Korea FTA will double the
U.S. trade deficit with South Korea
within seven years, with Korean im-
ports displacing approximately 888,000
American jobs — and the FTA alone
responsible for a net 159,000 jobs.
Stamoulis also told the Labor Press
that the TRADE Act’s strong labor pro-
visions “are absolutely not part of the
Korea FTA, nor any other existing or
pending trade agreement.” He said the
Korea FTA includes weak labor provi-
sions inserted by the Bush Administra-
tion and that the actual text of the Korea
agreement’s investment provisions pro-
vides foreign investors the right to chal-
lenge U.S. laws, regulations and even
court decisions as “regulatory takings”
through international arbitration
processes that completely circumvent the
U.S. judicial system.
“This is clearly a right that U.S. busi-
nesses and U.S. citizens do not have,”
Stamoulis said.
On other issues discussed at the
breakfast, sponsored by the Northwest
Oregon Labor Council:
• Schrader said since Republicans
took control of the U.S. House in 2011
they have not submitted a single jobs
bill. “They’re not even talking about jobs
on the House side,” he said. “Republi-
cans have not offered any jobs bills,
nothing that references jobs, nothing that
even makes an attempt to put working
men and women back to work.”
• On reducing the federal deficit:
Schrader said he will fight to make sure
funding for jobs programs, infrastruc-
ture, education, and research aren’t im-
pacted.
• On Social Security: “Social Secu-
rity is in trouble. It’s going to go broke
in about 20 years. Either that or every-
one will have to take an automatic 25
percent cut in benefits. We’ve got to do
something about that.”
• On Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget pro-
posal: “While I disagreed violently with
Congressman Ryan’s particulars in his
budget ... I do appreciate the fact that
he’s talking about the big picture. We
have big problems in this country. A
foreign country owns most of our debt
at this point in time. We’re in probably
the worst deficit situation this country’s
been in since World War II. We’ve got
to get that fixed. But there’s a smart way
to go about it and there’s a dumb way to
go about it.”
Please submit résumé, cover letter to:
NW Oregon Labor Council, AFL-CIO
1125 SE Madison, Suite 100D, Portland, OR 97214
For a complete job description, call the Northwest
Oregon Labor Council at 503-235-9444.
Northwest Oregon Labor Council, AFL-CIO,
is an equal opportunity employer.
MAY 6, 2011
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
PAGE 11