Today’s installment of Isolationism Watch is brought to you by Rep. Phil Hare, who represents the Illinois 17th District including the Illinois portion of the Quad Cities and parts of downstate Illinois:
Congress cannot support unfair trade agreements destined to outsource more American jobs to countries that systematically violate human rights.
And we cannot defer to an administration unwilling to hold any of the key players accountable for their actions.
I certainly support free trade. But trade must also be fair. Unfortunately, the pending trade agreements with Peru, Panama, Korea and Colombia follow the same flawed NAFTA model that resulted in the hemorrhaging of good paying jobs in America and a race to the bottom in Mexico.
I can see reasons for insisting on reciprocity in trade agreements; yoking them to peripheral issues, particularly peripheral issues on which you can be assured that your prospective trading partner is unable to comply is protectionism.
The manufacturing jobs lost over the period of the last 30 years in the United States have been lost under Republican administrations and Democratic ones. Partisan blame is overreaching. These jobs are gone for good and the only way to bring them back would be to become an autarky, a system that has failed for every country that has attempted to it. Congressman Hare’s prescription would be ruinous both for the United States and for the world.
“I certainly support free trade. But trade must also be fair. ”
Translation: I’m against free trade.