General President James P. Hoffa

You don’t have to have a Ph.D. to understand that our trade policies of the past 20 years have failed. In fact, if you were a high school graduate and had a manufacturing job that was sent to Mexico, you would get it better than any college professor or trade guru. So-called free-trade agreements were sold as a way of boosting countries’ economies. We now know how these trade deals have hurt U.S. workers.

The Colombian government is putting its prettiest face forward this week in hopes of getting an ugly trade deal with the United States. The Colombian Embassy is placing 47 giant heart sculptures throughout Washington, D.C. It is also giving away 25,000 Colombian flowers in Union Station and encouraging photo ops with Juan Valdez. But hearts, flowers and Juan Valdez don't tell the whole truth about Colombia.

Detroit, we have a problem. We're suffering serious economic pain at a time when health care costs in our state are going through the roof. The one million Michiganians who don't have health insurance are one accident or one serious illness away from financial catastrophe.
 

If we’ve learned anything in the past 15 years, it should be that offshoring jobs and deregulating financial services are certain to weaken the U.S. economy.

In light of those painful lessons, it’s hard to understand why the U.S. Trade Representative would push a trade deal with Panama.