Marcy Kaptur: “I rise in strongest opposition to permanent trade privileges for China. Trade does not bring freedom. Only enforceable…”

“I rise in strongest opposition to permanent trade privileges for China. Trade does not bring freedom. Only enforceable laws in democratic republics bring freedom. Trade does not bring peace. Before World War II, the largest trading relationship in the world was not Nazi Germany's with England. Did that stop totalitarianism's rise? Trade does not build a middle class. Only laws governing workers' rights to organize undergird the rise of a strong middle class with good wages and benefits. This is not a fight about expanding America's export markets. This is a fight about China becoming a vast export platform 12 times the size of Mexico's, taking our markets in Asia's rim and sending a glut of sweatshop and agricultural commodities back here to our shores. This is a heroic fight for democratic values in the harsh countryside and in the industrial sweatshops in China, in places most Americans, including this Congress, will never visit. Will we side with the chauffeured limousine class, advertisers, retailers, and global companies that soothingly tell us 'everything will be all right,' or will we stand with the freedom fighters in China and throughout the world? For those fighting permanent privileges for China on the basis of democratic values. I say, hurray. For those courageous people in Taiwan standing tall for sovereignty and self-determination, indeed for nationhood, I say, keep the flame of liberty burning.”