Barbara Lee Urges Leadership to Renegotiate Panama Free Trade Agreement
For Immediate Release
May 21, 2009
Contact: Nicole Y. Williams
(202) 225-2661
Washington, DC – Today, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-9) joined 53 of her House colleagues in sending a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi arguing that the proposed Panama Free Trade Agreement be renegotiated. She released this statement:
“The Panama Free Trade Agreement, as it currently stands, is simply a throwback to the Bush Administration’s failed trade policy that has left our economy crippled and thousands of Americans jobless. If we are going to truly be the ‘New Direction’ Congress, then we must break away from the policies that have gotten our country into the economic downturn that we are working to pull ourselves out of.
“Our trade policy must seek to level the playing field so that our American businesses and the American worker are not struggling to compete against impossible odds in the international marketplace. We need fair trade not just free trade.
“With the new Administration in place, we now have a historic opportunity to push forward a new trade model that will benefit both workers and businesses. As we work to craft new trade agreements, we must ensure that they meet basic standards protecting labor rights, environmental standards, food safety regulations, financial regulations, and taxation transparency.
“The Panama Free Trade Agreement will likely weaken any effort by the United States implement stricter financial regulations to protect our economy. That is why we must renegotiate this agreement so that it is in it’s in the best interest of the United States.
“Working with the President and my colleagues in Congress, I am confident that we can put new trade policy in place to help create American jobs, protect workers’ rights, and uphold environmental standards.”
# # #