Washington, D.C. – With three free trade agreements expected to come before the House soon and the Senate working on a bill to hold China accountable for manipulating its currency, Rep. Gary Peters issued the following statement:

“Cutting our trade deficit and boosting exports are critical elements to a sustained economic recovery not just for Michigan, but for the entire country.  There has been plenty of talk about budget deficits around Washington, but our trade deficit is half a trillion dollars every year.  That means billions of dollars are being sent abroad every day, supporting jobs overseas when we need them here at home.

Past trade deals such as NAFTA have had a devastating impact on the Michigan economy, especially on our manufacturing sector.  The Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) will be the biggest free trade agreement our country has entered into since NAFTA, and we should not adopt any further bilateral, NAFTA-style deals while our nation faces an unprecedented jobs crisis.  While I appreciate the leadership President Obama showed by renegotiating the KORUS FTA to make it more fair for U.S. automakers, I believe that these deals will ultimately cost jobs in Michigan and in our vital manufacturing sector. 

We should also not be furthering trade relations with Colombia while it continues to be the single most dangerous country in the world for workers who wish to organize, bargain collectively, and form unions.  In 2010, Colombia had 49 union worker assassinations, more than the rest of the world combined.   There is no clear path forward for ending this violence.  While the Obama Administration negotiated a Labor Action Plan with the Colombian Government in April, the plan has not been implemented and Republicans have refused to include the Action Plan in the implementing legislation the House is preparing to vote on.   Enacting the Colombia FTA will send a message to the world that our country does not prioritize human rights and worker protections.

Too often, the U.S. opens its markets to foreign competition without reciprocal access.  While we play by the rules, other countries use technical barriers or other techniques like currency manipulation to game international trade laws.   I have joined a number of my colleagues in demanding that Speaker Boehner allow a House vote on legislation that would address currency manipulation, an unfair practice that countries such as China use to drive down the cost of their exports and make it harder for American companies to compete. American workers are the best in the world and we need to pass legislation to allow them to compete on a level playing field.  

We should help American companies boost exports, compete abroad, and create jobs here in the United States without passing these agreements.   I have fought to free up capital for small businesses, so they can expand their operations.  To help American companies compete we must continue efforts to expand small business lending, increase access to export promotion assistance, fight trade barriers and the offshoring of American jobs, enforce American intellectual property rights abroad, and aggressively confront currency manipulation by China and other countries.”

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