U.S. REP. TED STRICKLAND Group to study NAFTA's impact on Mexicans

The congressman said NAFTA has hurt the economy.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland acknowledges he's not going to Mexico to examine NAFTA's impact during the past decade with an open mind.
"I'm not going down to re-evaluate my position," said Strickland of Lisbon, D-6th, a longtime opponent of the North American Free Trade Act.
"This trip will help me call attention to this issue and other trade issues," he said.
It's been almost a decade since NAFTA, the largest free trade area in the world, was enacted, removing trade barriers between Canada, Mexico and the United States.
While some have said NAFTA opened more markets for U.S. companies, others say it has severely harmed American businesses.
Speaking to The Vindicator shortly before leaving Thursday for El Paso, Texas, Strickland said he and six other members of Congress, five Democrats and an independent, would visit towns on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border to study the impact NAFTA has had on jobs, families and the environment in those areas.
The trip is sponsored by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
"NAFTA was the beginning of what turned into a series of trade deals that resulted in job losses here," Strickland said. "I hope that I have a deeper, more accurate sense of what has resulted from NAFTA and our trade deals. I hope I can use this to call further attention to the fact that our trade policies are detrimental to our country."
WTO ruling
Strickland plans to introduce legislation to withhold U.S. funding from the World Trade Organization, which ruled earlier this week that the United States broke international trade rules by imposing tariffs on foreign steel.
President Bush is considering ending the tariffs, a move Strickland opposes.
"If we don't reverse course, we're going to lose our ability to sustain the standard of living most Americans have come to expect," Strickland said.
During his five-day visit to the border towns, Strickland and the other House members will meet with workers and farmers and visit a health care center in Mexico.
"The perception is the border communities benefit from NAFTA, but people there live in squalor next to a new American factory," he said.
skolnick@vindy.com