South Korea FTA Another Bad Deal For the US

[GHook93]

China rapes us, Mexico rapes us, Japan rapes us, South Korea has been raping us for years and now we want to allow them to destroy us. We offer them, as we do to Japan and China, unmolested access to our economy, but they toss up trade barriers against us! Take Americans cars in SK? They can't even advertise on TV there! WTF.

This is the reason I am supporting Trump. I always heard about the wonders of Free Trade, but don't see how its helping us? Our manufacturing sector is getting decimated. Our wages are going down. We have a trade deficit with nearly ever country we do trade with and many are record breaking. Like the ones with China, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Germany etc. The maddness needs to stop.

Trump is a man who understands international business. He understand big business. He is the only one who is truly talking about winning the trade war with China, Japan and others! Time to get serious and real about these threats.

Congress to Begin Hammering the Final Nail in the Coffin | Economy In Crisis
Despite everything we are giving up, we didn't even bother to address any meaningful issues with South Korea that will help America. We did nothing about preventing Korean currency manipulation. We did nothing to offset the Korean value-added tax. We did virtually nothing to remove the non-tariff barriers to trade that make it nearly impossible for American businesses to sell goods to Korea. Other than a few more cars every year, which will do little to change the vast imbalance of trade on that front (in 2007 alone, Korea sold us 615,000 cars, while we only sent them 7,000), this deal will not seriously open up the Korean market.

Also on the table are “free” trade agreements with Colombia and Panama which add more trouble to the mix. With recent concerns about corporate taxation and reducing our budget deficit, it is insensible to make a trade deal with one of the world's largest tax havens. In Columbia, union leaders are killed on a regular basis, and any talk of worker's rights will land you in prison. Not to mention the fact that both nations have serious problems with the trade of illegal narcotics and other drugs.

Economists and politicians continue to only talk about the benefits of these deals and somehow neglect to mention the costs. While they will help increase America's exports slightly, we will be swamped with a tsunami of imports that will cost America. Other aforementioned issues with these deals threaten our sovereignty and culture.

However, none of this madness seems to phase some people. “I hope by early summer that we can begin to see movement on all three,” Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) said.

 

[GHook93]

No shocker on Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Nigeria. They are where we get our oil from. Canada was not shocking either, however, I thought it would be larger, since they are where we get the majority of our foreign oil from. But look at our top five trading partners, Canada, China, Mexico, Japan and Germany! These are the five countries we have large deficits with. Only Canada can be explained away by oil. If I am the only one that sees this an an issue, then we are in trouble.

Foreign Trade: Data

YTD
Millions Millions
Country Name of U.S. $ of U.S. $

China -18,841.52 -42,113.01
Mexico -5,263.16 -10,158.31
Japan -5,239.66 -10,220.31
Germany -3,322.10 -6,442.08
Canada -2,890.11 -6,574.12
Saudi Arabia -2,572.77 -4,166.58
Ireland -2,568.85 -4,486.26
Nigeria -2,527.90 -5,403.99
Venezuela -2,073.21 -4,890.48
Angola -1,039.61 -1,728.95

Our Top Ten Trading Partners

Year To Date
Total in Total in
Billions Billions
Country Name of U.S. $ of U.S. $

Canada 44.06 89.10
China 35.72 75.14
Mexico 32.95 67.53
Japan 15.82 30.79
Germany 11.04 21.46
United Kingdom 7.23 14.97
Korea, South 6.98 14.37
France 5.14 10.18
Taiwan 4.97 10.47
Netherlands 4.87 9.55