Posted on 04/22/2011 10:06:24 AM PDT by David DeGerolamo
The Korea-U.S. Free Trade agreement is being pushed through Congress with little fanfare but huge consequences to our trade and sovereignty. What do Walter Jones (R-NC) and Ron Paul (R-TX) have to say about this agreement:
“This pact is a sneaky form of international preemption, undermining the critical checks and balances and freedoms established by the U.S. Constitution’s reservation of many rights to the people or state or government…[it] sets up foreign tribunals to which the United States must submit for judgment. We urge you to oppose President Obama’s Korea Agreement.
--Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) & Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) letter to colleagues.
William Rhodes writes in the Hill that we must pass this agreement immediately:
In his State of the Union address, President Obama asked Congress to pass the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS) as quickly as possible. Nearly five years to the day since these negotiations were first announced, the President’s call to action on this groundbreaking agreement is a welcome reaffirmation of U.S. leadership in opening markets overseas to create new jobs and economic growth opportunities at home.
...
The window of opportunity for the United States to take full advantage of the potential to create new jobs and growth through the FTA is, however, shrinking rapidly. On February 17, the European Parliament approved the EU’s free trade agreement with South Korea. This agreement will eliminate nearly 99 percent of all duties on trade in manufactured and agricultural goods between the EU and Korea within five years. It will also offer EU manufacturers, farmers, and services providers many of the same protections and market opening provisions that their American counterparts will enjoy under the U.S. Korea FTA. The EU agreement is slated to enter into effect this July.
Without quick action by Congress to approve the U.S.-Korea FTA, American workers and producers risk losing out on the chance to bolster their business and market share in Korea by giving European exporters a head start. We have already seen these kinds of market share losses in Colombia and Panama with the delay to act on passing these two important agreements as well.
William Rhodes is a senior advisor to Citigroup and Chairman of the U.S. Korea Business Council.
Takebackwashington.org has been covering this story in detail. Here are ten reasons from them to oppose this agreement:
1 Undermines U.S. sovereignty in favor of UN & World Bank tribunals & international law. 2. Violates U.S. Constitution by circumventing Congressional authority regarding appropriation of U.S. tax dollars.
3. State legislators oppose because it undermines State’s sovereignty. 4. Negotiated with expedited Executive authority & Congress is banned from amending or fully debating it.
5. Kills almost 160,000 U.S. jobs& encourages offshoring by multi-national corporations. 6. Favors powerful multi-national corporations over U.S. small business even when bidding for government contracts.
7. Not real “free trade” - benefits Korea much more than U.S. & increases U.S. trade deficit by $16.7 billion.
8. Allows unsafe food into U.S. without inspection.
9. Sends U.S. dollars into NORTH Korea & strengthens Chinese leverage against us.
10. Immigration - throws open U.S. doors to Korea.
What are some other consequences of this legislation?
If the FTA is implemented as written, that increased trade will include goods assembled in South Korea – but comprised of large amounts of North Korean inputs sourced in the Kaesong Industrial Complex. This is a sweatshop zone located 40 miles north of Seoul where 120 South Korean firms employ 44,000 North Koreans, whose wages are paid directly to the North Korean government, which keeps half. Hyundai predicts that the North Korean regime will receive $9.55 billion in economic gains from Kaesong over the course of nine years if expansion proceeds. This is equivalent to 36 percent of North Korea’s estimated national income.
I have to ask why does Obama want to support North Korea and at the same time marginalize the labor unions who have been in complete lockstep with his administration? Does everyone remember NAFTA?
The scary thing is that we have a lot of FR posters, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, GOP Liberals and GOP Media....ALL IN AGREEMENT WITH OBAMA ON THIS
The problem with any Free Trade deal is that it automatically surrenders US soverignty. Anytime you surrender authority to an outside body (in this case, the World Trade Organization and the United Nations...remember they fund trade deals thru the IMF and World Bank) it is bad for American...and it is not a conservative value.
Ron Paul may have some issues I do not agree with...but he is absolutely correct on these awful “Free Trade” deals.
There obviously was a reason why Karl Marx was a big proponent of Free Trade. The redistribution of wealth, and, the surrender of soverignty had to be big turnons for him
The empsit for March lists:
8,737,000 who are part time for economic reasons,
14,060,000 as unemployed (of whom 6,263,000 are unemployed over 27 weeks),
6,350,000 who are not currently in the labor force but want a job,
and yet 125,000 new legal workers are brought into the US each month.
A big part of the reason 125,000 new legal workers (guest workers and green cards) come into the US each month (1.5 million per year) is that all these ‘Free Trade’ agreements override our immigration law and make no accommodation for the current employment situation. Note many of the guest workers pay no or partial taxes yet are entitled to full advantages of our safety net.
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