Issue Position: Trade

Issue Position

DeFazio has been a leader in fighting "free" trade agreements that have led to massive job loss and job dislocation, the withering of the U.S. manufacturing base, soaring trade deficits ($677 billion in 2008 alone), and the erosion of U.S. sovereignty, among other problems.

He was part of the team in the House that defeated legislation to grant "fast track" trade authority to President Clinton. He also led the fight against giving President George W. Bush "fast track" trading authority.

He helped lead the opposition to "permanent normal trade relations" (PNTR) for China. He also opposed NAFTA and the creation of the WTO and has sponsored bipartisan legislation to require the withdrawal of the U.S. from NAFTA.

Despite his opposition to the WTO, DeFazio was selected by House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt to serve as a congressional delegate to the World Trade Organization ministerial in Seattle in November 1999.

He introduced legislation to establish a non-partisan Congressional Trade Office, to help Congress develop its own institutional expertise on trade matters in order to better evaluate the results of the Administration's trade policies.

DeFazio authored legislation, which became law in 1998, to establish an Emergency Commission to End the Trade Deficit. The Commission split on ideological lines and issued its final report in November, 2000. Since then the trade deficit has swelled to record highs, as U.S. manufacturing has waned. In July of 2010, DeFazio sponsored and pushed through the House H.R.1875, the Emergency Trade Deficit Commission Act, to one again force a comprehensive review of our trade deficit.

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