DeLauro Addresses United Steelworkers And Rallies Against TPP

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) today offered the following remarks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership at a rally of the United Steelworkers in Washington, DC.

Here are the remarks, as prepared for delivery:

Good morning everyone. Thank you Leo, for your leadership as President of United Steelworkers, and for all you have done to work for fair wages, good policy, and a safe working environment for all 1.2 million of your members.

You have built a career standing up for workers, and I am especially grateful that you are such a strong voice in the fight against flawed trade policy. The Steelworkers are lucky to have you at the helm.

I am honored to be here today, and to be among good friends--friends of working people and friends of organized labor. We must fight back against unbalanced trade policies that hurt American workers and now is our time to do that.

I do not have to tell you that China is far and away the world's worst offender when it comes to steel dumping. Roughly 13,500 Americans have been laid off and major steel mills across the country have closed because of an unprecedented surge in subsidized steel imports from countries like China.

Incredibly, China is lobbying the Administration for "market economy status." This would severely undermine America's trade remedy laws, one of our only resources to help to level the playing field for U.S. companies and workers harmed by unfairly traded Chinese goods. We must strengthen our ability to enforce the rules in the face of China's bad behavior, not weaken it.

That is why I have introduced legislation that would require the Administration to submit any determination that China is no longer a non-market economy to Congress. We have to stand up for American workers, not give in to bullying from China.

To add insult to injury, the Administration is now trying to jam the Trans-Pacific Partnership through Congress. The agreement does nothing to combat the problems I outline with regard to China and other bad actors in the Asia-Pacific region--in fact, it makes the problem worse.

The TPP does nothing to prevent currency manipulation. Because of a single Chinese currency devaluation last year, the Economic Policy Institute calculated that between 190,000 and 640,000 Americans will lose their jobs. China's devaluation was quickly followed by similar actions in TPP partners Vietnam and Malaysia. A single devaluation has the power to devastate so many families--just think of what will happen when we enter a trade deal with other known currency manipulators like Japan.

The greatest economic challenge facing our nation today is that too many Americans are in jobs that do not pay them enough to live on. Bad trade agreements like the TPP further jeopardize the jobs and wages of working families. Some say that technology and globalization are the main causes of stagnant wages and job losses, which means we are powerless to do anything about it. It is about public policy choices we make--we need to start making choices that create jobs and increase wages.

America is a great nation because of a strong working class. But that working class has been damaged time and again by unfair trade policy. Promises that the TPP is any different are empty and misleading.

This fight is about our workers and our progressive values--values that respect American workers, and demand good wages and benefits. Our goal in any trade policy should be to expand and support the middle class. Any way you look at it, the TPP fails to meet that standard. That is why we will fight until we win--and we will win.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz wrote: "We should hope for the TPP's defeat and the beginning of a new era of trade agreements that do not reward the powerful and punish the weak." Fair trade should make it easier for working families to put food on the table, to put gas in the car, to put money in a college fund--it should not destroy American jobs and wages.

When I look at the TPP, I see an agreement that was written by corporations for corporations--it is a document designed for investors, not for working people. And if the agreement is signed into law, working people will pay the price.

The Center for Economic and Policy Research found that this agreement will suppress wages for all but the richest ten percent of Americans. And study out of Tufts University found that the TPP will generate net losses of U.S. GDP.

It also found that the TPP will lead to employment losses in all countries, with the United States hit hardest with a loss of at least 448,000 jobs--yes, almost a half a million jobs. Congress must stop this job-killing agreement. That is our job.

The Administration tells us that the Trans-Pacific Partnership is our safeguard against China. No, not if we want to rein in China, stop them from dumping steel, and stop them from manipulating their currency.

In short: Current U.S. trade policy is an assault on working families and a danger to our middle class. Continuing to allow China to take advantage of us by dumping steel and pursuing the flawed TPP will only make the problem worse. We must reject trade policy that will destroy jobs and suppress wages. We must stop the race to the bottom. We must do better. Thank you.

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