A picture is worth 1000 words. So let me show you two of them. On the left, our trade balance between 1962 and 1992, before so-called "free trade agreements." And on the right, our trade balance since then:
What sane person could look at these two charts, and conclude that what America needs is more "free trade"?
We have run a trade deficit of at least $350,000,000,000.00 every single year since 2000, with no end in sight. The result is that we have gutted the U.S. manufacturing base, and run up enormous debt to foreigners -- almost $6 trillion ($6,000,000,000,000.00) in U.S. Treasury debt alone.
We buy their goods, putting their workers to work. They buy our assets, driving us deeper and deeper into debt.
The real issue is not whether to sign new "free trade" giveaways and sell-outs. The real issue is how to curtail runaway U.S. trade deficits, and mountainous U.S. foreign debt.
The real issue is how we put our workers back to work, heal our economy, and heal our nation.
Courage,
Rep. Alan Grayson
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