John Conyers, Huffington Post - Twenty years ago, as the North American Free Trade Agreement was coming into force, the nation had high hopes. The trade pact's backers promised tens of thousands of new high-paying jobs, lower prices for consumers, and an export-driven renaissance for American manufacturing.
NAFTA's legacy, tragically, bears no resemblance these promises.
In the two decades since the agreement came into existence, the US has lost nearly five million manufacturing jobs, and my home state of Michigan has lost one out of three jobs in this essential sector. America's trade deficit with Mexico and Canada ballooned from $27 billion to $177 billion, and economic inequality has risen to record levels.
Right now, as Wall Street and Washington seek to drag the American people into a massive new trade agreement with 11 Pacific Rim nations, Congress must keep the dreadful legacy of NAFTA in mind.
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