Speech #1140001924

Of the 11 nations with which the United States is negotiating the TransPacific Partnership. nine have wage levels significantly lower than our own. This will only intensify the already real reduction in wages American workers are experiencing year after year as our jobs are shipped overseas to increase profits of shareholders as they take advantage of impoverished laborers. Worse yet. for the immigration debate. as those who run the maquilas of Mexico and Central America realize. the next move will be to Vietnam for even cheaper labor. Factories on this continent will shut down. further exacerbating the poor economic conditions of our southern neighbors. leaving even fewer options other than for those individuals to flee north. seeking any economic opportunity to sustain themselves. I wanted to spend a moment looking at the Korean agreement because that was one of the latest ones they brought up here as a free trade agreement.