Marcy Kaptur: “The American people are being kept in the dark by the Obama administration regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership. So…”

“The American people are being kept in the dark by the Obama administration regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership. So much secrecy forces us to ask an important question: Have any of our past free trade agreements really been net positive for our Nation and helped our workers? The answer is ``no.'' Whether you look at the NAFTA accord with Mexico and Canada, where we are in huge deficit, if you look at the Korean agreement, if you look at basic trade with nations like Japan, which remains a closed market, every single agreement is all negative. Since 1976, our country has lost 47.5 million jobs due to trade deficits resulting from free trade agreements. During that time, we have accumulated a trade deficit of more than $9.5 trillion. What a drag that is on GDP. These growing trade deficits that outsource our wealth and weaken our economy devastate communities. Carrying a massive trade deficit has hindered economic growth and has limited our economic recovery by nearly 16 percent just in this past year alone. More and more people are slipping away from the middle class as a result, with inequality at the highest levels since the 1920s. Millions of Americans are losing faith in the possibility of upward mobility. Let's ask ourselves: What have past trade deals brought Americans? Just since NAFTA, Americans have lost in the manufacturing sector 5 million jobs, and that is just since the early 1990s--one of every four.…”