Michelle Wu: “that I can address you from this well today is a tribute to the courage, the perseverance and the sacrifice of my…”

“that I can address you from this well today is a tribute to the courage, the perseverance and the sacrifice of my parents. My father left for America when I was 4 months old, and I did not see him again until I was 7. I could only recognize him from photographs. My parents endured 7 years of separation so that they could bring our family to this place of freedom and of opportunity. People have said to me, ``You're a trade lawyer. You've got to like this agreement. You represent a trade-dependent district. You have to support this agreement. If you have to vote your conscience, just vote and walk away.'' I refuse to do that because I will refuse to turn my back on the sacrifice of my parents and countless other Americans who have stood and fought in the cause of freedom. This is a bad trade agreement. This is bad policy, and this is counter to fundamental American values. It is a bad agreement because the basic concept is wrong. Let us take the WTO proponents' arguments at their face value. America is a market economy. China is not. America has an exchangeable currency. China does not. If we both dropped our tariffs to absolute zero, we would lose control over our imports and China would not. Through their command and control economy they can still determine how much to buy and exactly from whom to buy. This is a flawed agreement.”