Why American Voters Have Difficulty with Free Trade Agreements

Why American Voters Have Difficulty with Free Trade Agreements

Americans feel locked out of the system.

Distrust of Congress

Finally, Americans’ distrust in “the system” is reflected in the movement to bring up TPP in a lame duck session. To the average American, this smacks of another effort to “slip something through,” or a “midnight vote” to have Washington ignore their interests by bringing important legislation to the House and Senate floors after an election and look to retiring and defeated legislators to cast key votes without being accountable to their constituents, or look to newly re-elected senators and representatives, who can vote without the pressure of an election for at least another two years. No wonder Congress continues to suffer from a 14 percent approval rating.

I was involved in several lame duck sessions and despised them because they always gave the impression that difficult and presumably unpopular bills should be kicked down the road. It is time to further accelerate the commencement date of terms of office for Members of Congress in order to prevent future lame duck sessions.

Conclusion

What can be done to turn the perception of trade around in the United States?

1) Free trade advocates need to get the facts out about trade and show how trade benefits individual Americans.

2) Companies need to actively promote new plant openings and jobs created by trade

3) There should be more transparency in how trade agreements are passed in the legislature.

4) More resources and assistance should be directed to help displaced workers.

Donald Manzullo is the President and CEO of the Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI). He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 until 2013. During that time, he chaired several subcommittees and committees, including Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

KEI is registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act as an agent of the Korea Institute for International Economy Policy, a public corporation established by the Government of the Republic of Korea. KEI is a non-profit educational and outreach organization, which is not engaged in the practice of law, does not render legal services, and is not a lobbying organization. www.keia.org

Image: Anti–free trade protestor. Flickr/Creative Commons/Billie Greenwood