Nebraska Farmers Union

1305 Plum Street • Lincoln, NE 68502 www.nebraskafarmersunion.org Contact John Hansen Office: 402-476-8815 Fax: 402-476-8859 Cell: 402-580-8815 john@nebraskafarmersunion.org

For Immediate Release Contact: John Hansen 402-476-8815

October 11, 2011

NEFU Says $6.863 Trillion Cumulative Trade Deficit Hole Is $6.863 Billion Too Deep

LINCOLN (October 11, 2011) – Nebraska Farmers Union (NEFU) President John Hansen said, “Since 1994 Congress has passed 17 free trade agreements that have dug the U.S. economy a cumulative $6.863 trillion balance of trade deficit hole. Most Americans understand that when the balance of trade is a deficit, the U.S. is losing. The three free trade agreements (FTA’s) the Obama Administration sent to Congress are replicas of the first 17 free trade agreements. So far, Congress is 0 for 17 on FTA’s. There is no reason FTA’s #18, #19 and #20 will work any better or differently than FTA’s 1-17 worked,” Hansen said.

Nebraska Farmers Union is a long time advocate of developing appropriate mechanisms to deal with the market access offsetting impacts of Value Added Taxes (VAT's) and currency manipulation. “Our U.S. trade policy agenda will not change as long as Congress continues to rubber stamp fundamentally flawed trade agreements,” Hansen said. “The U.S. trade policy is working a lot better for China than it is for the U.S.”

Hansen said, “It is time to connect the dots between failed fiscal policies, failed economic policies and failed trade policies. Our trade policy sets our nation’s economic policy. It is not in our nation’s economic interest to trade away $6.863 trillion of economic base, jobs, and tax revenues. Congress needs to say no to the three pending free trade agreements that will do nothing but dig the trade deficit hole deeper faster.”

“Agriculture has been one of few bright spots for trade. The balance of U.S. trade for agriculture with the world is a positive cumulative $6.863 trillion since 1994. Yet the balance of U.S. trade for agriculture is a negative cumulative $41.585 billion with the 17 countries the U.S. has free trade agreements with since 1997. The balance of trade for agriculture is a negative cumulative $7.541 billion for the two NAFTA countries since 1997. The data clearly shows that U.S. agriculture does not benefit from free trade agreements. Our current trade policy is so bad that if the U.S. did nothing, agriculture would do substantially better,” Hansen said.

“It makes sense to stay the course when the policy is successful. It makes no sense to stay the course when the policy is a roaring disaster. We cannot afford to continue a trade policy that trades away America’s future,” concluded Hansen. Nebraska Farmers Union has claimed that the most accurate way to measure the impacts of trade agreements is to measure the net gain or loss, known as the balance of trade. The balance of trade net gain or loss is like a financial balance sheet that shows whether money was made or lost.

Minus -$6.863 Trillion U.S. Cumulative Overall Balance of Trade deficit since 1994

Minus -$7.541 Billion U.S. Cumulative Balance of Ag Trade deficit with NAFTA Partners since 1997

Minus -$41.585 Billion U.S. Cumulative Balance of Ag Trade deficit with 17 FTA nations since 1997

Positive +$174.833 Billion U.S. Cumulative Balance of Ag Trade gain with total world trade

*Source: United States International Trade Commission, "Interactive Tariff and Trade Dataweb," http://www.usitc.gov/, accessed October 4, 2011. Prepared by Edwin Way

Since 1913 Nebraska Farmers Union has been working to protect and enhance the economic well-being

and quality of life for family farmers, ranchers and rural communities through advocating

grassroots-driven policy positions adopted by its membership.

-30-