From NY Citizens Trade Campaign:
Please Urge Congresswoman Lowey to vote NO on the Korea FTA
The proposed Korea-U.S. “free trade agreement” poses serious negative consequences for New York. This deal replicates many of the same threats to our economy and our state sovereignty as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
New York has lost over 342,167 manufacturing jobs (or 40.9 percent) during the NAFTA-WTO period according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Studies suggest the Korea FTA will also have a negative impact on jobs in New York. The Economic Policy Institute analyzed the U.S. International Trade Commission deficit data and found that the implementation of the Korea FTA could cost the U.S. economy another 159,000 net jobs.
The Korea FTA’s foreign investor privileges replicate the same extreme “investor rights” found in NAFTA that have been the basis for repeated foreign investor challenges to state and local laws in recent years. The Korea FTA allows Korean corporations in the U.S. to sue for taxpayer compensation when domestic laws or actions negatively impact their investments. There are 18 Korean-owned companies operating in our state that would be newly empowered to attack any environmental or consumer safety law that diminishes their profitability. Under existing NAFTA investment rules, governments have already paid $329 million to foreign investors for the privilege of enacting environmental, public interest and other laws. Even when the U.S. successfully defends against these attacks, millions in legal costs have been paid out, including by states which, unlike the federal government, do not have rights to seek compensation for such costs.
We need the administration to negotiate better trade deals that protect our interests – trade agreements that can create jobs here and not put our most basic tenets of federalism at risk. Please contact Rep. Lowey‘s office at (202) 225-6506 and ask that she vote NO on this poisonous trade deal. Then, report your call to Brooke Newell, Director of NY Citizens Trade Campaign at [email protected] or 518.793.3823.