Congress Is Clamoring for the Farm-Killing Korea Free Trade Agreement

Despite its relative absence in the media, the U.S.'s pending free trade agreements (FTAs) with Columbia and South Korea have been getting a lot of attention in Washington. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers  have been heavily urging Obama to submit the deal for approval as soon as possible.  Unfortunately, like NAFTA before it, the Korea FTA is a terrible deal for family farmers.

Big Ag corporations stand to make a lot of money by increasing exports into the South Korean market, but it will drive down prices in both countries and severely thin the ranks of all but the biggest farmers. That's why the U.S. National Farmers Union, the National Family Farm Coalition, and the Family Farm Defenders have registered their opposition to the deal, along with several other labor and trade groups, both American and Korean.

Meanwhile on the other side of the globe, South Korean farmers are busy rallying against a similar trade deal with the European Union. More than one thousand farmers showed up in Seoul recently to loudly register their opposition.  They are worried that the increase in competition from big, industrialized nations will cripple their agricultural industry. If the history of NAFTA is any indication, they're right.

Right now, there's not a lot of public noise about the Korea FTA, but Obama is sure getting an earful from Congress. If their voices are all he hears, you can bet that this deal will go through, and both South Korean and American workers will be left jobless so that those poor, suffering, multinational corporations can make even more money. If Democrats really care about American workers as they profess, this is not an agenda they should be supporting, and they need to hear it from us.

If you support family farmers, we can't let this agreement fly in under the radar. Speak up, and sign our petition telling Congress that the Korea FTA is a bad deal!

Photo credit: Johannes Barre via Flickr