Fair Trade

Fourteen years after NAFTA’s implementation, America’s workers and farmers have learned the hard way that “free trade” does not translate into more jobs or higher wages. Instead, America has lost over 3 million good-paying manufacturing jobs that have been shipped overseas. Since 1994, Iowa alone has lost over 12,000 jobs to unfair NAFTA and the World Trade Organization (WTO) trade policies according to the Department of Labor.

At the same time, farmers in America, Mexico and Canada have paid a particularly high price for NAFTA/WTO policies. During the first ten years after it’s implementation, from 1994 to 2004, America lost over 300,000 family farms while prices paid to American farmers fell 40 percent as profits for corporate agribusiness soared out of control.

Iowa deserves elected officials that create fair trade policies that protect American jobs and uphold the sovereignty of U.S. local, state and federal laws. As a congressman I will continue my lifelong fight for comprehensive fair trade policies that guarantee strong labor and environmental provisions and protect our middle class and hardworking American families.

That is why I promise to only support trade policies that level the playing field for American workers and help restore balance to our current trade deficit. Rather than reward corporations for shipping jobs overseas, we must create fair trade policies that encourage manufacturing jobs to stay in the U.S. and build new opportunities for our middle class.