<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 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/24/nafta-failed-american-workers-congresswoman-marcy-kaptur" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class="">https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/24/nafta-failed-american-workers-congresswoman-marcy-kaptur</a><o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><h1 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 236);" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-weight: normal;" class="">Nafta failed American workers. Here's how Trump can fix our trade woes<o:p class=""></o:p></span></h1><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 236);" class=""><span class="contentheadline"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/profile/marcy-kaptur" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(230, 113, 27);" class="">Marcy Kaptu</span><span style="color: rgb(230, 113, 27);" class="">r</span></a></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.5rem; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: rgb(230, 113, 27);" class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: white;" class="">Workers in the Midwest cite trade as a top reason they supported President Trump’s candidacy. Here’s what he can do to listen to their concerns<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.5rem; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: rgb(230, 113, 27);" class=""><em class=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: white;" class="">Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur represents Ohio’s Ninth District and is the Dean of the Ohio Congressional Delegation. Kaptur is the longest-serving woman in Congress</span></em><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: white;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', serif; color: rgb(118, 118, 118);" class="">Thursday 24 August 2017 <span class="contentdateline-time">06.00 EDT</span><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><p style="margin: 1rem; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span class="drop-capinner"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(230, 113, 27); text-transform: uppercase;" class="">S</span></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">unday signaled the completion of a major milestone, the end of the first round of negotiations to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement. Canada, Mexico and the United States are set to meet over multiple rounds in the coming months.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1rem; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Too frequently I have heard the mantra, “do no harm” from industry leaders as they encourage President Trump’s negotiations. I take a different stand, as I have since Nafta was signed into law 23 years ago. This is an opportunity to do right by workers across the continent. This moment must not be squandered by pandering to transnational, special interests. Some of us in Congress, and many workers throughout our heartland have been waiting for this moment for years.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Workers in the Midwest cite trade, and Nafta in particular, as a top reason they supported President Trump’s candidacy. In my District in Northern Ohio this past election, President Trump flipped two historically Democratic counties and almost won a third, Lorain, which voted for Hillary Clinton by the smallest of margins. It is no coincidence that his message on ripping up Nafta resonated with workers hardest hit by the export of hundreds of thousands of American jobs.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1rem; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">In his opening salvo, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer correctly emphasized that the deal had “failed many, many Americans and needs major improvement…” To fulfill these goals there will need to be major changes, not simple tweaks. America needs a continental compact that lifts workers on all sides of the border, raises wages and balances US trade accounts.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1rem; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Trade agreements are highly complex documents. Their benefits to investors can be quantified. By contrast, their costs to workers are acute and cruel if not done right. Think of communities in the Midwest ravaged by the loss of manufacturing jobs. Ohio alone lost about <a href="http://epi.3cdn.net/fdade52b876e04793b_7fm6ivz2y.pdf" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 86, 137);" class="">35,000 jobs</span></a> to Mexico. In rural Mexico, nearly <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/09/news/economy/nafta-farming-mexico-us-corn-jobs/index.html" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 86, 137);" class="">a million farm jobs</span></a> were lost as imports decimated local economies and forced economic migration as people became desperate for opportunity.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Some economists and some of my <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-us-trade-deficit-is-a-good-thing-really/2017/08/14/c3dd9e5e-7df0-11e7-83c7-5bd5460f0d7e_story.html?utm_term=.8eb9fa86110a" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 86, 137);" class="">colleagues</span></a> suggest deficits are a healthy aspect of trade agreements, citing mighty American buying power as a singular point of success. That is a distorted view. Mammoth deficits are not beneficial when the job loss behind the imbalance creates seismic economic and cultural pressures. The trade deficit can even <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-02/wider-u-s-trade-gap-may-signal-drag-on-second-quarter-growth" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 86, 137);" class="">limit GDP growth</span></a> as huge trade deficits can create slow growth economies.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1rem; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Just in June, the US experienced a <a href="https://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/international/trade/tradnewsrelease.htm" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 86, 137);" class="">$43.6bn trade deficit</span></a>. These deficits mean more money left the wallets of hardworking Americans to feed the greed of rapacious, low-wage seeking transnational interests. Just look at Nafta’s job numbers. Between 1997 and 2010, the US <a href="http://epi.3cdn.net/fdade52b876e04793b_7fm6ivz2y.pdf" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 86, 137);" class="">bled 682,900 jobs</span></a> to Mexico.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1rem; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">To help remedy this, Ambassador Lighthizer should adopt the concept of my bill, the <a href="https://kaptur.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/kaptur-introduces-balancing-trade-act-calls-trade-policy-puts-jobs-first" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 86, 137);" class="">Balancing Trade Act</span></a> (HR 2766) as a fundamental stance of US trade policy. It requires the administration adjust policy with any nation accumulating a trade deficit of $10bn or more for three consecutive years. Alternatively, Congress should pass and the president should sign this bill as part of our commitment to lowering trade deficits.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1rem; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">There is no doubt that the US economy possesses unparalleled buying power, but trade is about workers, not just goods. Imagine if North America negotiated a deal that lifted the standard of living of workers and local economies by granting increased buying power for US goods?<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1rem; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Nearly three decades ago, we were told Nafta was the epitome of a modern trade agreement. Supporters assured job growth, increased economic flexibility for North American industries, and new buyers for American goods. The Nafta trade model simply has not lived up to those promises. Wages in Mexico and the US <a href="http://www.epi.org/blog/naftas-impact-workers/" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 86, 137);" class="">have stagnated</span></a> or declined since Nafta and working conditions have worsened.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1rem; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">This time around, workers in all three countries need truly enforceable provisions that protect their right to organize, work in safe environments and earn livable wages. Enforcement must come with a mechanism for investigation and remediation when violations of wage and working conditions violate the spirit of the agreement.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1rem; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Nafta is not an ethereal idea about trade policy and goods. It is about people, jobs and how much money goes into the paychecks of workers across the continent.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1rem; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">The US economy and global corporations can surely benefit from international trade agreements, but that is not enough. Our trade negotiators’ top priority must be the US worker and promoting fair rather than just free trade. In doing so, the continent will achieve a compact for democratic development across North America.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1rem; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: white;" class=""><em class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur represents Ohio’s Ninth District and is the Dean of the Ohio Congressional Delegation. Kaptur is the longest-serving woman in Congress.</span></em><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div class=""><em class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class=""><br class=""></span></em></div></body></html>