U.S.-EU Free Trade Agreement

In his 2013 State of the Union Address, President Obama announced the U.S. would soon begin talks on a Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. In other words, the U.S. will begin negotiating a “free trade agreement” (FTA) with the European Union (EU).

The AFL-CIO believes that increasing trade ties with the EU could be beneficial for both American and European workers but as with all trade agreements, the rules matter. Generally speaking, both regions have advanced economies, high national incomes and well-developed legal and regulatory regimes designed to protect the environment and defend workers’ rights. And in many respects, the European nations’ social programs to protect families and the environment exceed those of U.S. laws and regulations—and any U.S.-EU agreement must not be used as a tool to deregulate or drive down these higher standards. If that is the goal, working families of both regions will pay the price.

However, it is important for there to be a new approach to this agreement: the status quo approach to trade has resulted in increasing income inequality, stagnating or declining wages and unacceptably high trade deficits that are sapping economic growth.

Read more here: http://www.aflcio.org/Issues/Trade/U.S.-EU-Free-Trade-Agreement

All of our trade deals so far have simply pushed down wages and made money for the 1%. We should beware of further trade deals on the same model no matter who they are with. These are corporate-rights agreements through and through.