House Leaders Against Fast-Track, TPP Respond to Ambassador Froman's Testimony to House Ways and Means Committee

Press Release

Today, Representatives Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and George Miller (D-CA), three House Democrats who have led the charge against unfair trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and fast-track procedures that would bypass Congressional input, responded to the testimony of U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman to the House Ways and Means Committee.

"It's easy to say you're winning when you don't bring up the other team's score. The Trade Representative cites recent increases in exports, but fails to mention the larger increases in imports, exploding trade deficits and related job losses resulting from NAFTA and our subsequent trade deals, including the recent one with Korea. When the full picture and facts are viewed, it's clear that our trade model is deeply flawed and that it is imperative the Congress not go along with another job-killing trade agreement."

The 20th anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) this year has reminded Americans of the impact of unfair trade deals. In 1993, before NAFTA, America had a $2.5 billion trade surplus with Mexico and a $29 billion deficit with Canada. By 2012, that had exploded into a combined NAFTA trade deficit of $181 billion, resulting in the loss of over 1 million jobs to other countries.

The U.S.-South Korea trade deficit reached a historic high of $20.673 billion this year, an increase of $8.6 billion (47 percent) from 2011--the year before the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) took effect. In addition, exports are down $2 billion since 2011 and down $700 million since 2012. The result has been the loss of 40,000 U.S. jobs.

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