<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><b class=""><i class="">Anyone with supporters or friends in Oregon, please encourage them to attend </i><a href="http://oregonfairtrade.org" class=""><i class="">ORFTC’s protest at Nike on Friday morning</i></a><i class="">, and another in downtown Portland tonight…</i></b></div><div class=""><i class=""><br class=""></i></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2015/05/07/obama-free-trade-nike-oregon/70937482/" class="">http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2015/05/07/obama-free-trade-nike-oregon/70937482/</a></div><div class=""><h1 class="asset-headline" itemprop="headline" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: 32px; line-height: 34px; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 20px 0px 0px 70px;">Free trade critics hit Obama over Nike visit</h1><div class=""><br class=""></div></div><br class=""><div class=""><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Critics who are already upset with <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Barack Obama" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; cursor: help; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(97, 9, 110) !important;">President Obama</culink>'s push for a new trade deal with Asia have a new target: The president's Friday visit to Nike.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">"With less than 1% of its more than 1 million production jobs located in the United States, Nike perfectly depicts America's lost-jobs, low-wage future under the <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Trans-Pacific Partnership" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; cursor: help; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(97, 9, 110) !important;">Trans-Pacific Partnership</culink>," said Elizabeth Swager, director of the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Swager's group and others plan to protest Obama's appearance Friday at the Nike campus in <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Beaverton, Oregon" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; cursor: help; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(97, 9, 110) !important;">Beaverton, Ore.</culink></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">While Nike has been accused of abetting foreign sweat shops, officials say the company has worked to improve the conditions of workers both at home and aboard.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">A White House statement says Obama is making the visit "to discuss how workers will benefit from progressive, high-standards trade agreements that would open up new markets and support high-quality jobs both for Oregon small businesses and large companies like Nike."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">The trip comes as Obama promotes the Trans-Pacific Partnership with Asian nations. He is also asking the Congress for trade promotion authority, which would allow the administration to send a final agreement to lawmakers for an up-or-down vote, without amendments.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">The proposed free trade deal with Asia will include "high-standards to bring greater opportunity to <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Economy of the United States" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; cursor: help; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(97, 9, 110) !important;">American businesses</culink>, level the playing field for American workers, protect the environment, and raise human rights and labor standards around the world," the White House says.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">The critics aren't convinced, saying free trade deals encourage businesses to move jobs to countries with cheaper labor and lower environmental standards.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Lori Wallach, director of <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Public Citizen" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; cursor: help; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(97, 9, 110) !important;">Public Citizen</culink>'s <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Global Trade Watch" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; cursor: help; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(97, 9, 110) !important;">Global Trade Watch</culink>, said <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Presidency of George W. Bush" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; cursor: help; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(97, 9, 110) !important;">President George W. Bush</culink> also included labor provisions in his trade deals, but they have not worked.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">"Years later, those terms have not improved conditions in the countries where they apply," she said. "Further, the (Obama) trade agreement will exacerbate income inequality and incentivize off-shoring."</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/obama-puts-nike-trade-spotlight-155941312.html;_ylt=AwrC2Q7FZUtVtWUAVATQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTBybGY3bmpvBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMyBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--" title="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/obama-puts-nike-trade-spotlight-155941312.html;_ylt=AwrC2Q7FZUtVtWUAVATQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTBybGY3bmpvBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMyBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--" style="color: rgb(25, 144, 229); text-decoration: none;" class="">Reports Reuters</a>:</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">"In choosing the company's Oregon headquarters as the backdrop for his message, Obama risks reminding people of global trade's downside just when he needs to convince nervous Democrats to back the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a key plank of the administration's strategic pivot to Asia.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 60px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">"But appearing at Nike also allows Obama to talk about how things have changed from previous trade deals, and to associate his TPP with a company that says it has learned from the past mistakes of globalization."</p></div></body></html>