This week, I joined with my colleagues to introduce the “NAFTA Accountability Act.� This bill requires the President to renegotiate the terms of NAFTA by the end of 2008 to correct trade deficits, job loss, currency distortions, and agricultural provisions. If the United States fails to meet these benchmarks, it will be required to withdraw from the agreement.

The message of this bill is simple: we should withdraw from NAFTA if it doesn’t meet certain benchmarks.  In fact, if we were to grade NAFTA today, it would get a big “F� for job production and economic growth.

Since the start of NAFTA, the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico and Canada is $919 billion. We have lost over 1 million living-wage jobs in the United States.

When NAFTA passed, members of Congress were promised it would raise the standard of living for all.  They were sold a dream and ended up with a disaster.

The people of this country want their elected officials to be held accountable. This bill does just that.  It holds the Administration accountable and allows us to withdraw from a trade agreement that has never worked for our country. The trade model needs to change.  It’s time to renegotiate our badly flawed trade deals and to go back to the drawing table. I look forward to working with my colleagues to push this legislation forward.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 7th, 2007 at 4:20 pm and is filed under Economy/Budget, Foreign Policy, Politics .