<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div><span class="submitted-date"><br></span></div><span class="submitted-date"><div><span class="submitted-date"><br></span></div><a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/244159-broken-promises-of-the-past-dont-equal-future-prosperity">http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/244159-broken-promises-of-the-past-dont-equal-future-prosperity</a></span><div><span class="submitted-date"><br></span></div><div><span class="submitted-date"><img apple-inline="yes" id="5C39628F-4AFE-49E8-B448-4B8642735D88" height="195" width="671" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:99C27972-A175-44C0-B7F2-9391CF396855@Belkin"></span></div><div><span class="submitted-date">June 05, 2015, 03:00 pm</span>
<h1 class="title" id="page-title">Broken promises of the past don’t equal future prosperity</h1>
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<article class="node-244159 node node-blogs view-mode-full clearfix" about="/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/244159-broken-promises-of-the-past-dont-equal-future-prosperity" typeof="sioc:Item foaf:Document">
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By <span rel="sioc:has_creator">Michael Stumo</span></p></div>
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<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>While
pushing legislation through Congress to grant Permanent Normal Trade
Relations status with China in 2000, President Clinton proclaimed, “This
a hundred-to-nothing deal for America when it comes to the economic
consequences.”<br> <br>A giddy Clinton further pledged that the legislation would “increase U.S. jobs and reduce our national debt.</p><p>It did the opposite. </p>Nearly
15 years after lofty promises of future prosperity, America imports $1
billion per day more from China than it exports. Today,
our annual trade deficit with China is larger than the economies of
Denmark, Portugal, Greece, Chile, Hong Kong, Egypt and 150 other
countries.<br> <br>President Clinton also guaranteed gold at the end of
the rainbow with a giant World Trade Organization deal and the North
American Free Trade Agreement, which he said would create 200,000 jobs
by 1995 alone.<br> <br>Wrong again. Since then, America has bled
manufacturing jobs, the middle class has all but evaporated and the
trade deficit has ballooned to $740 billion.<br> <br>More
recent presidential assurances in support of the Korea trade agreement
were also incorrect. Our trade deficit with Korea worsened by 72
percent. <br> <br>This record makes the ongoing debate over Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) perplexing.<br> <br>President
Obama is asking Congress to set aside normal legislative procedure and
the jurisdiction granted legislators under the Constitution so he, and
his successor, can secretly negotiate any trade deal with any country
for six years. <br> <br>If the president is granted TPA, he can
add non-trade provisions that change domestic law and foreign policy.
And he will be able to write implementing legislation, which cannot be
amended, to change U.S. law and regulations to conform to the new trade
deal. Instead of asserting congressional power, Congress would merely
ratify the president’s plan. <br> <br>Unfortunately, many
lawmakers seem willing to cede their power for vague – and repeatedly
wrong – promises of an economic nirvana that is just around the corner. <br> <br>The
first quarter GDP shrunk because of the trade deficit. Yet, there is
no accountability for achieving good net trade results from any pending
or future trade deal. <br> <br>Furthermore, the TPA bill rejects
enforceable rules to hold our trading partners accountable for predatory
trade practices used to gain a competitive edge against Americans
– even after free trade agreements supposedly have removed the barriers
to U.S. exports. <br> <br>President Obama simply wants a rubber-stamp
Congress for trade deals, and he chastises TPA critics as "stuck in the
past" while championing a plan that is copied and pasted from the NAFTA
and Bush days.<br> <br>America's 40 straight years of trade deficits and
inexorably rising foreign debt are a symptom of enabling trade cheating
by others, not free trade. Recommitting the same mistakes of the past
will not turn the tide. <br> <br>True free traders know that tariffs
and quotas are no longer the issue. 21st Century problems -
like currency manipulation, foreign subsidies, state-owned enterprises
and consumption taxes - now eclipse any benefit that could be achieved
from the same old trade concessions. <br> <br>America became an
economic superpower by innovating and manufacturing, building supply
chains, paying people well, creating wealth here at home, expanding the
middle class, and being a net exporter. <br> <br>Back then, President
Reagan adopted the principle of “free and fair trade with free and fair
traders.” His trade doctrine centered on the 3 R’s of reciprocity, rules
and results. Reagan did not believe in pretending we have free and
fair trade when we did not. And he did not lose focus upon results. <br> <br>Reagan used
to Plaza Accord of 1985 to rein in currency manipulation by Japan and
Germany. He remedied the related problem of Japan's industrial
subsidies. Manufacturing production volume, growth and the U.S. trade
balance markedly improved as a result. <br> <br>We need a similarly clear-headed and results-oriented trade strategy today. <br> <br>Congress should
reject TPA and pursue a plan to fix the trade deficit, grow American
production and return to broadly shared prosperity.<hr><p><em>Stumo is the CEO of the Coalition for a Prosperous America.</em></p></div></div></div></article></div></body></html>