The Dangers of Free Trade Agreements
January 23, 2013 - 6:00 PM
A Free Economic Seminar
Featuring Renowned Economist Thea Lee
“Free trade” sounds like a great idea, theoretically. Producers outsource their production to foreign countries with the lowest labor rates and consumers get the benefit of low prices for their purchases.
Unfortunately, there are fundamental real-world flaws that exist with free trade that have led to a most massive depletion of our wealth in record time. The United States has not witnessed a trade surplus since 1975, and since then trillions have been lost through trade deficits caused by “free trade” with the elimination of tariffs.
The consequence of our “free trade” agreements has lead to American companies increasingly closing up, selling out or going bankrupt. “Free trade” is uncontrolled, unrestricted access to our economy by foreign producers whose wage rates may be as low as $4 per hour, tariff free, about which we can’t compete. We are thus forced to outsource our manufacturing to these foreign producers who flood our markets with these low priced products and in the process, the outsourcers importing the low cost products become millionaires and billionaires while our whole middle class collapses - and our own production facilities are forced to shut down.
Learn more January 23, 2013, 6pm at
The Washington Plaza Hotel, in the Monroe Room
10 Thomas Circle Northwest
Washington, DC 20005
Thea Lee is Deputy Chief of Staff at the AFL-CIO, where she has also served as Policy Director and Chief International Economist. Previously, she worked as an international trade economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. and as an editor at Dollars & Sense magazine in Boston. She received a Bachelor’s degree from Smith College and a Master’s degree in economics from the University of Michigan.
Ms. Lee is co-author of A Field Guide to the Global Economy, published by the New Press. Her research projects include reports on the North American Free Trade Agreement, on the impact of international trade on U.S. wage inequality, and on the domestic steel and textile industries.
She has testified before several committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate on various economic policy topics. She serves on several advisory committees, including the State Department Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy and the Export-Import Bank Advisory Committee. She is also on the Board of Directors of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Light refreshments will be served. Seating is limited, please RSVP to [email protected]
This is a free, non-partition event. It is not a solicitation for the sale of any goods or services, nor will there be a request for donations.
