Jeff Merkley

If countries like the U.S. do not push back and stand up against the massacre of ethnic minorities and lead the world, who will?

It is a terrible problem, and one that the U.S. needs to be deeply engaged in.

Myanmar has just engaged in a massive process of ethnic cleansing.

China is spending $411 billion. So building up these massive reserves is also giving them the capital they need...

One of the things that I put forward--was the Level the Playing Field in Global Trade Act, which is essentially that very low labor and environmental standards in foreign countries, below the norm for their country, would, in fact, be a…

If you let the competitor have full access to a market but play by a different set of rules, you give a huge advantage to your competitor, and that means the loss of American jobs.

All we essentially see in this chart, in summary, is, as product penetration went up and increased substantially after 2001, American jobs lost to that trade deficit continued.

Did our loss of manufacturing jobs as a result of the trade deficit with China increase significantly after their admission to the WTO?

I do find this interesting because, often, a coastal state such as mine says that this must be doing us a lot of good because we have all these links overseas.

I think we should be eliminating most of those requirements, but I also believe that we have to be careful about using a bilateral investment treaty as the vehicle to do it.

So when the time comes when we need to renegotiate the terms for the accession to WTO, or their continuation, does it still make sense to have an agreement in which they can require our companies to be part of a joint venture but we do not…

Okay, that is very interesting, because what I saw was saying that had been stipulated, that they had permission to do that.

Congress should act on S. 2566, the Level Playing Field in Global Trade Act of 2018, introduced by Senator Merkley.

This legislation would ensure that trade agreements include enforceable standards to promote living wages and ensure sustainable production methods.

We need to, therefore, make sure that rules in trade, rules that relate to labor standards and environmental standards, are fairly enforced.

American companies and workers should not be penalized for adhering to fair, humane, responsible labor and environmental standards.

China is not the only country engaged in predatory economic practices, but it is a clear leader in flouting international standards.

Our businesses and workers can outcompete anyone on a level playing field, but all too often, the field is not level.

What really makes America great is our entrepreneurial spirit, looking at problems as challenges and challenges as opportunities.

It is a pleasure to be here with you, working in a bipartisan way to look out for America's interests and to protect American workers from being hurt by international predatory economic practices.

This is not about undercutting our free market economy or promoting excessive government intrusion in the private sector.

This legislation would create a statutory requirement for the periodic production and submission to Congress of a national economic security strategy.

Now is the time to change course.

I think it is really important for us.

We believe that Chemawa Indian School wants to improve the health and well-being of their students and we support them in this effort.