Marcy Kaptur: “I rise today on the heels of President Bush's failed trade trip to Latin America to discuss our Nation's trade policy, a…”

“I rise today on the heels of President Bush's failed trade trip to Latin America to discuss our Nation's trade policy, a policy that continues to ship out American jobs, a policy that opens our doors to imports while other markets remain closed to us. Markets like Japan, markets like China, they keep their doors shut tight. This is a policy that is hurting our country, not just today, but for tomorrow. It hurts our workers. It hurts our farmers; and, indeed, it truly hurts our future. Our latest trade deficit numbers released last month for the month of August show yet another increase in America's trade deficit. The trade deficit for the month of August alone was $59 billion. For every billion dollars of deficit, we incur another 20,000 lost jobs. In a year, the loss to us is over three-quarters of a trillion dollars of more imports coming in than exports going out. Last year our trade deficit was $668 billion; and in the first half of this year, this number clearly was increasing. This chart summarizes what has been happening with the rise in imports over exports over the last 20 years. Every single year, after every single one of these trade agreements gets signed, the red ink gets deeper and deeper. It will not take long to reach a trillion dollars, which lops real economic growth off our gross domestic product. According to one report, the higher price of oil this year alone could add an estimated 60 to $90 billion more to the trade deficit of 2006.…”