Congressman Taylor's office announces legislative effort to repeal the North American Free Trade Agreement

Statement from the office of Congressman Gene Taylor:

NAFTA and similar free trade agreements have resulted in a 29% decline in U.S. manufacturing employment since 1993. NAFTA discourages investments in U.S. manufacturing facilities and accelerates the erosion of our industrial base.

In 1993 prior to the United States entering into the North American Free Trade Agreement, the U.S. had a trade surplus of $1.7 Billion with Mexico . By 2007 this trade surplus turned into a massive deficit that peaked at $75 Billion. As our economy declined in 2009 our trade deficit with Mexico dropped to $47 billion. Our trade deficit with Canada in 1993 was $11 Billion prior to NAFTA. By 2008 the trade deficit swelled to $78 billion and dropped to $20 Billion with the decline of the economy in 2009.

Congressman Gene Taylor said that “I voted against this legislation in 1993 because I knew that this trade agreement would lead to a decline in jobs and our industrial manufacturing base. Just look at what happened when the Department of Defense needed to rapidly build Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles.”

He went on to explain that “In 2007 the DoD decided to increase the number of MRAPs in Iraq and bought 17,700 vehicles. Because of our diminished manufacturing capacity, it took 9 different contractors working together to build all of these vehicles. The decline in our manufacturing base left the contractors without a trained workforce to build these vehicles. This led to delays and choke points in production and overall delivery of the MRAPS. This was a logistical nightmare. Without a sufficient industrial base capable of mass production, we are forced to spend more tax-dollars because each contractor had to train workers and re-invent the parts for production. In some cases, we were dependent on foreign countries. These contractors had to literally re-invent the wheel or purchase the tires from France and Israel .”

The United States has lost 29% of its manufacturing base since 1993. Almost 5 million jobs have left the U.S. and never returned. Before 1993 U.S. manufacturing jobs were responsible for approximately 17 million jobs. By 2009 U.S. manufacturing employment dropped to about 12 million workers. Mississippi has been hit particularly hard losing 39% of its manufacturing jobs. 240,000 people worked in manufacturing jobs prior to NAFTA. As a result of this trade agreement, 93,000 jobs have left the state.

Taylor concluded by saying “Timing is everything in life and it’s the right time to pass this legislation. Proponents have had more than enough time to make this work – It didn’t.”