The United States sent new trade agreements to South Korea, Columbia, and Panama. This may be one time that the Democrats and Republicans may agree. The Republicans led by Boehner said that passing the agreements "a top priority for the House". The Democrats are willing to pass the agreements because it will be a much needed victory for Obama.
The largest union in the United States, AFL-CIO, disagrees with the three labor agreements and is holding a protest at the Capitol in Washington DC on Tuesday. Some of the Democrats are aganist this bill but that will not hold up the trade argeements.
These argeements will help both the US carmakers and agricultural exports, but damage the textiles, electronics, and computer makers. They want the trade agreements to be signed on October 13 in connection with the visit of the South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak.
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4 comments:
I dont believe this will get passed because i believe there is more cons then pros . Yes it might help car dealerships but hurts other companies and i think there will be nothing to gain on it so i think the democrats will vote against it.
It most likely will get passed because the Republicans are in control of the House and Senate. The Republicans are more on the side of business and not on the side of unions, the main group that opposes.
Inevitably, the new free trade agreement will cause shifts in the U.S. economy. However, I personally do not think this is an entirely negative thing.
According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Free Trade Agreements will prevent the loss of 380,000 jobs. According to AFL-CIO, the Free Trade Agreements will push 159,000 jobs over seas.
Ultimately, yes, some jobs will be outsourced to other countries. After NAFTA, the U.S. saw the loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs due to outsourcing.
But, in return, the increase of exports gained by the U.S. due to NAFTA also supported thousands of jobs in the U.S..
So ultimately, why do I support a free trade agreement? I think that a free trade agreement will allow the industries in each of these economies to become more specialized within their respective trades. Essentially, one of the greatest benefits of a free trade agreement is the increase of economic efficiency.
As has already been discussed, in our economics class, there is a production possibilities curve. By allowing a country to specialize in specific goods, the overall output of such good will become more efficient.
Through efficiency, the price of goods will become lower (because the production costs have decreased.)
Ultimately, with a free trade agreement, the price of many goods will lower because the efficiency of producing such good will increase. With the decrease in price of goods, each individuals purchasing power will increase.
While I do understand that hardships faced by workers who do have their jobs outsourced, I believe that ultimately, the U.S. cannot maintain its competitiveness in the global market by trying to stay inefficient.
I agree with Andrew to a certain extent. Yes the new free trade agreement could possibly make America more efficient, but at the cost of jobs. I understand that the price of goods will decrease because the production possibilities curve moved to the left, but for the people that will lose their jobs might not be able to buy the goods even at the lower price because they won't have an income.
Also, if America continues to outsource jobs, then more people will become unemployed so the increased efficienty wouldn't have as great an impact because people will save their money instead of spending which won't stimulate the economy.
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