[CTC] Don't Be Fooled by Data Tricks: The Case of the Dueling Korea FTA Press Releases

[Arthur Stamoulis]

On Anniversary of U.S.-Korea FTA Implementation, U.S. Exports Down 9  
Percent, Imports from Korea Up
and Deficit With Korea Swells 30 Percent, Undermining Obama Export and  
Job Growth Goals

Though U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement Outcomes Are Abysmal, Obama  
Pushes for Trans-Pacific and European Agreements Based on Same Model

March 14, 2013                                    Contact: Steve  
Knievel (202) 454-5122; Jake Parent (202) 588-7779; for online  
journalists, Rachel Lewis (202) 588-7703

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The actual outcomes of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade  
Agreement (FTA) that took effect one year ago, March 15, have been  
exactly the opposite of what the Obama administration promised, Public  
Citizen said today. Despite government data once again demonstrating  
the damage caused by yet another “trade” agreement based on the model  
of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Obama  
administration is trying to sell massive Trans-Pacific and European  
agreements based on the same model with the same false promises.

U.S. export growth to countries with pacts like the U.S.-Korea FTA has  
been particularly lackluster; growth of U.S. exports to countries that  
are not FTA partners has exceeded U.S. export growth to countries that  
are FTA partners by 38 percent over the past decade. In contrast to  
the Obama administration’s promise that the U.S.-Korea FTA would mean  
“more exports, more jobs,” U.S. goods exports to Korea have dropped 9  
percent (a $3.2 billion decrease) since the Korea FTA took effect, in  
comparison to the same months in the year before FTA implementation.  
U.S. imports from Korea have climbed 2 percent (an $800 million  
increase). The U.S. trade deficit with Korea has swelled 30 percent (a  
$4 billion increase). The January data from the U.S. International  
Trade Commission show that the U.S. trade deficit with Korea  
skyrocketed 81 percent above December’s level, topping $2.4 billion –  
the largest monthly U.S. trade deficit with Korea on record. The  
ballooning trade deficit indicates the loss of tens of thousands of  
U.S. jobs.

“I suspect that most Americans are likely to be angry with the  
politicians who got us into another one of these NAFTA-style deals,  
rather than surprised at the damaging outcome. Polls show that  
majorities of U.S. independent, Democratic and GOP voters consistently  
oppose these deals because they think they are bad for their families  
and the American economy,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public  
Citizen’s Global Trade Watch. “The Obama administration is inviting  
the public to focus on the debacle of its Korea Free Trade Agreement  
by using the same failed claims to push a Trans-Pacific FTA with 10  
Asian and Latin American nations that is literally based on the Korea  
FTA text.”

The decline in U.S. exports under the Korea FTA contributed to an  
overall disappointing U.S. export performance in 2012, placing the  
United States far behind Obama’s stated goal to double U.S. exports by  
the end of 2014. At the sluggish 2012 export growth rate of 2 percent,  
the United States will not achieve the president’s goal until 2032, 18  
years behind schedule.

“The data show that these Obama administration-supported FTAs are  
undermining the national goals set by the president of boosting our  
exports, reviving U.S. manufacturing and creating American jobs,” said  
Wallach. “This kind of data makes everyone wonder just why the  
administration keeps pushing so-called ‘trade’ agreements like the  
Korea FTA, and now the Trans-Pacific Partnership, that facilitate  
offshoring, ban Buy American provisions and erode manufacturing jobs,  
utterly contradicting the president’s domestic agenda.”

Many of the sectors that the Obama administration promised would be  
the biggest beneficiaries of the Korea FTA have actually been some of  
the deal’s largest losers. U.S. pork exports to Korea have declined 18  
percent under the FTA relative to the same months in the year before  
FTA implementation, while beef exports have fallen 9 percent and  
poultry exports have plunged 41 percent. While U.S. auto exports to  
Korea have increased 7 percent under the FTA, U.S. auto imports from  
Korea have surged 17 percent, causing an 18 percent rise in the U.S.  
auto trade deficit with Korea.

Read additional analysis of the government data on U.S. trade with  
Korea under the U.S.-Korea FTA.
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