Ron Paul, Walter Jones Write Letter Opposing Obama’s NAFTA-Style Korea Free Trade Deal

[Joanne98]

Ron Paul (R-TX) and Walter Jones (R-NC) wrote a letter to their colleagues urging opposition to KORUS, President Obama’s NAFTA-Style Korea Free Trade deal (PDF).

Paul and Jones join the AFL-CIO, the United Steelworkers, the Communication Workers, the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, US Chamber Watch and Public Citizen in urging defeat of the bill.

Senator Sherrod Brown, Rep. Mike Michaud and Rep. Linda Sanchez are also part of the transpartisan opposition to the bill. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that KORUS will cause 159,000 jobs to be shipped overseas

Oppose the South Korea Free Trade Agreement

Dear Colleague:

Free trade theorists such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo must be rolling in their graves to see pacts like President Obama’s Korea Agreement called “free trade.” Like the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the pact, written by unelected trade bureaucrats, spans 1,000 pages.

It includes endless pages of rules and regulations enforced by foreign tribunals. This act is a sneaky form of international preemption, undermining the critical checks and balances and freedoms established by the U.S. Constitution’s reservation of many rights to the people or state governments.

And, President Obama’s Korea Agreement sets up foreign tribunals to which the United States mst submit for judgment. Foreign investors are allowed to skirt the U.S. court system to directly ue the U.S. government for trade pact violations before UN and World Bank tribunals. Those provisions enable demands by such forms for compensation in U.S. taxpayer funds for violations of the special foreign investor privileges the pact provides. There are nearly 80 Korean firms with more than 200 establishments set up in this country now that would acquire these new rights to raid our Treasury using foreign tribunals.

We urge you to oppose President Obama’s Korea Agreement.

Sincerely,

Ron Paul Walter B Jones

Sign the petition to Congress — No New NAFTA

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/12/09/ron-paul-walter-jones-write-letter-opposing-obamas-nafta-style-korea-free-trade-deal/

[Catherina]

1. South Koreans are protesting it too.

South Korean Farmers Protest Against Free Trade Agreement with U.S.
2010-12-08

South Korean farmers staged a protest on Wednesday, urging their government to abolish the U.S. - South Korea free trade agreement.

Seoul and Washington negotiators struck a deal last Friday on the long-delayed pact, which was signed in 2007, but had not been ratified for three years because of U.S. auto and beef industry concerns.

South Korean farmers have opposed the free trade agreement with the U.S., fearing it would harm both agricultural producers and cattle farmers.

South Korea's agricultural ministry said this month the country has imported 4.6 billion dollars worth of agricultural products from the U.S.

http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns_asia/2010-12-08/539401636215.html

Getty Images SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - DECEMBER 08: South Korean farmers burn a figure of a symbolizing Anti-FTA during a rally to protest against the South Korean Free Trade agreement (FTA) with the USA at Seoul Railway Station on December 8, 2010 in Seoul, South Korea. President Barack Obama cited his pleasure at the resolution of outstanding issues over the deal last week, a deal expected to increase American goods exported to South Korea by up to USD11 billion. The 2007-signed FTA had been held up due to concerns over auto and beef industries, with Obama hoping the new pact will be a model for future FTAs.

Getty Images SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - DECEMBER 08: South Korean farmers take part in a rally to protest against the South Korean Free Trade agreement (FTA) with the USA at Seoul Railway Station on December 8, 2010 in Seoul, South Korea. President Barack Obama cited his pleasure at the resolution of outstanding issues over the deal last week, a deal expected to increase American goods exported to South Korea by up to USD11 billion. The 2007-signed FTA had been held up due to concerns over auto and beef industries, with Obama hoping the new pact will be a model for future FTAs.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9731270

[howaboutme]

2. Whose side is he on? KOREA Trade pact being kept in the dark.

The Korea free trade act which is as destructive as NAFTA in my view. It is on Wall Streets side but not America's side. The new proposal to give Wall Street tax cuts on our dime is on the front burner? While Korea trade exposure is hidden. Whose side is OBAMA on? He is not my side.

http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/nonewnafta

[Exilednight]

3. We don't need another free trade deal. What we need are Fair Trade Deals! N/T