Dennis Kucinich: “it is important whenever we talk about trade that we realize that the United States has a massive trade deficit of over…”

“it is important whenever we talk about trade that we realize that the United States has a massive trade deficit of over $500 billion; and while the gentleman has been repeatedly citing the benefits to various States, my own State has lost 200,000 jobs during this administration. The United States, since the year 2000, has lost 3 million manufacturing jobs. So tell us about your free trade policies. If this legislation were only about trade, I could spend the rest of the time demolishing the arguments that have been offered here about the advantages that this trade agreement offers, but there is something that we need to focus on. Like most things around this Chamber, what you see is not what you get. The restriction on amendments imposed by Fast Track prevents Members of Congress from eliminating an extremely harmful precedent against lower cost pharmaceutical drugs set in the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement. So my colleagues may think we are just voting about free trade here, but we are also voting on the issue of drug reimportation, because we cannot amend the trade agreement. The administration was able to lay the groundwork, in the words of the trade representative, for thwarting the reimportation of lower-cost pharmaceuticals. That is because the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement codifies current U.S. law which the administration has made sure prohibits drug reimportation.”