[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 124 (Tuesday, July 24, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H7091-H7092]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          RESHAPE TRADE DEALS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, on the important economic challenge of 
renegotiating NAFTA, once again, the Trump administration is leading us 
down a chaotic and unstable path. Our Nation must fix bad trade deals 
to create good jobs and stop the wage race to the bottom.
  President Trump is taking a ``shoot first, ask questions later'' 
approach. It reminds me of his recent backward walk of words 
diminishing our NATO allies and his brash capitulating performance in 
Helsinki.
  Closer to home, our continent has a once-in-a-generation opportunity 
to reshape our trade deals that have resulted in lowered wages for the 
American people. Starting with NAFTA, we must re-create agreements that 
raise wages and lift up workers in our Nation and across the world.
  Current trade deals exact huge profits for transnational companies 
that outsource jobs but continue the race to the bottom on wages for 
workers. So far, Trump's unsteady actions on trade just create more 
chaos, with businesses putting hiring plans on hold or scaling back 
whole projects because of their confusion about tariffs. Is his trade 
rhetoric producing a good outcome for the American people or is it just 
continuing the red ink of worse trade deficits, suppressed wages, and 
rising costs for consumers?
  According to the PayScale Index, the paychecks of working Americans 
have fallen 1.4 percent just since 2017 when you adjust for the rising 
costs of essentials like healthcare, prescription drugs, gas, and 
groceries. In fact, wages have fallen, actually, 9.3 percent since 
2006, as costs go up and up and up but wages stay flat or go down for 
so many families.
  This is not what the American people were promised. They were 
promised bigger paychecks, more reshoring of jobs--remember Carrier in 
Indiana--better trade deals, and a President who was on their side. So 
far, we have just unfulfilled promises and confusion.
  NAFTA negotiations press on, but there is concern President Trump 
will

[[Page H7092]]

go the way of his recent NATO meeting. Reports from his trade 
ambassador seem encouraging, but will this administration follow 
through on its promises to turn NAFTA into a job-insourcing deal? If 
his promise to fix healthcare or promises that the GOP tax giveaway to 
the top 1 percent would raise wages is any indication, then count me as 
a sceptic.
  Since NAFTA's passage in 1993, there has not been a single year in 
which our Nation has achieved a trade balance with Mexico or Canada. 
These massive billion-dollar trade deficits power the harmful push of 
living-wage jobs beyond our borders and reduction in our wages. This 
low wage race to the bottom pits our workers against those making 
poverty-level wages in other nations.
  Talk is cheap, Mr. President. In Ohio, people judge people by their 
actions. Words aren't enough to help working families. Our workers and 
the middle class that powers this country should not be the victim of 
an ill-thought-out trade war or attacks on our allies.
  President Trump, listen to the people in places like Ohio, in both 
the industrial and agricultural sectors. Listen to the voters who took 
a chance on you because of trade. More trade chaos is not the path we 
were promised.
  Renegotiate a NAFTA that will result in trade balances, insourcing of 
jobs to this country with higher paying jobs in our country and rising 
wages for our workers, and with continental efforts to gain stability 
working with our trade partners in both Canada and Mexico. That is what 
a renegotiated NAFTA should look like. Let's hope we get it.

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