Marcy Kaptur: “Congress is now faced with a so-called new trade policy with regard to Peru, Panama, Colombia and South Korea. But this…”

“Congress is now faced with a so-called new trade policy with regard to Peru, Panama, Colombia and South Korea. But this deal is not a new direction for trade; it's a variation of the same old theme. We have seen how NAFTA has sucked a million good jobs out of our country and ruined millions of lives in Mexico and driven so many desperate illegal immigrants across our border. We have seen how so-called free trade with a closed and manipulative China has led to soaring deficits, increasing outsourcing of our jobs, and lax labor and environmental standards not just in Asia, but around the world in a race to the bottom. Tainted Chinese food is not just being sent here for our pets, but for our people. The trade policy released last week does not make any major changes to this trade regimen. It does not aim at yielding a more balanced set of trade accounts for our country, or even opening the closed markets of the world. It doesn't fix agreements that aren't working to our advantage or even to be fair to both sides. There is nothing in this deal about the privatization of public works, for example, in water or in sanitation or health care that are inherent in what has been negotiated. If Democrats oppose privatizing Social Security here in the United States, why would we require privatizing the Peruvian social security system? Now, why would we do that?”