The Truth About NAFTA/GATT and the WTO
Just so everyone is crystal clear: Neither Bernie Sanders nor Donald Trump are lying about NAFTA or GATT/WTO trade agreements.
I co-founded and helped run a nonprofit for four years in Massachusetts – the New England Fair Trade Council, with Bob Baughman – and worked like others – Lori Wallach, Pat Choate, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, etc. – to educate the public about the problems with these policies. I actually have physical copies of the agreements. I’ve been studying this for decades.
Here are the facts: The United States has lost more than 10 million manufacturing jobs since NAFTA (1994) and GATT/WTO (1995) were made law. Even the government’s own data shows this. Here is a screenshot from usdebtclock.org, data from the Commerce Department, that shows 7.3 million manufacturing jobs alone since 2000, nearly all due to globalization, slave wages overseas, and no tariffs on imports. These jobs were replaced by 7-Eleven jobs. It’s why there is income and wealth inequality. Each manufacturing job as another five to seven jobs connected to it; when that single job is lost, the other five to seven jobs are also put in jeopardy. The lowering of tariffs since 1970 – which was a large revenue stream for more than 200 years in the United States – has also caused us to raise taxes on individuals and businesses. These are the facts.
