June Trade Deficit/Trump Scorecard

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, President Trump promised to fix our trade deficits and bring back American jobs. Seven months into this administration, wages are flat and workers continue to get pink slips.

The administration has not made its promises on NAFTA come true, and as of June, the end of June, the decision on steelworkers has not been done.

President Trump made promises to working people and spoke endlessly about trade during the campaign, and now he has an opportunity to rewrite those economic rules for NAFTA on this continent. He could make it work for working people rather than for transnational corporate interests at the expense of everyone else. We should fix NAFTA's lax labor standards, and the citizens of our continent would benefit.

Our people have had hundreds of thousands of jobs outsourced to Mexico. Workers in Mexico earn about $3.95 an hour in the auto plants, about one-ninth of average workers here north of the border. Meanwhile, our trade deficits have been increasing across the board with Mexico, which translates into more outsourced jobs and, of course, more trade deficits with the world.

The June 2017 trade deficit on this chart confirms the year-to-date goods and services deficit increased by over 10 percent over last year.

America can create good jobs here at home, but it can't happen without fixing trade agreements that are seriously out of balance, starting with NAFTA.

Mr. President, please fix NAFTA.

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