Tea Party Letter to GOP Freshmen: 'Korean Trade Deal Violates US Sovereignty; Keep Campaign Promises to Oppose It'
WASHINGTON, March 8, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Korean trade agreement (KORUS) is a job-killer that compromises U.S. sovereignty and national security, according to a letter sent today to GOP Congressional Freshmen by twenty tea party, grassroots and Constitutional organizations in rebuttal to a letter sent by the Members to President Obama on Mar. 1.
Signatories include Campaign for Liberty, Unite In Action, Liberty Coalition, Take Back Washington, Tea Party of Washington DC, American Grassroots Coalition, Americans for Free and Fair Trade, and the American Policy Center.
"We think there is some disconnect about that letter to the President," says Kathryn Serkes of Americans for Free and Fair Trade. "A number of the offices who signed that letter tell us they meant it as a general statement of support for free trade, but that they haven't made a decision on the Korean agreement."
Serkes points out that some Members who just campaigned opposing KORUS and other trade agreements have now signed the letter. "We're counting on them to keep their campaign promises and not flip-flop."
"We are writing on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of grassroots members and activists represented by our organizations to express our opposition to language in President Obama's Korean trade deal as well as our concern about a letter you have already received from several of your Colleagues.
"Some of you have signed even though you campaigned for election opposing the agreement. Some of you who have signed the letter have told us that you only intended your signature to signal your general support for free trade, not your support for a specific agreement. We hope that is the case."
"But even more alarming is the loss of U.S. sovereignty and autonomy to the foreign tribunals of the United Nations and the World Bank required by this agreement, and the extraordinary special privileges granted to foreign corporations and their investors.
"And even though the U.S. has imposed sanctions on North Korea, this deal allows billions of dollars of U.S. currency to flow directly into North Korea through the Kaesong Industrial Complex -- a free trade zone between North and South Korea.
"We will not stand by and allow this deal to sacrifice the Constitution to a web of international agreements and organizations. Simply, if free trade comes with a price tag of the Constitution, then the cost is too high."
Contact: Kathryn Serkes (206) 841- 0100, [email protected]
SOURCE Americans for Free and Fair Trade
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