New TV Spot: As Brown fought outsourcing, OH lost 195,000 jobs under DeWine

Watch the new ad here:  http://sherrodbrown.com/pages/the_standard

AMHERST, OH – The Sherrod Brown for U.S. Senate campaign today released a new television advertisement in which U.S. Representative Brown (D-OH) vows to fight against trade agreements that eliminate American jobs.  Ohio has lost more than 195,000 manufacturing jobs since 2001.  Ohio Republican incumbent Senator Mike DeWine supported the North American Free Trade Agreement and voted for the Central American Free Trade Agreement and Permanent Normalized Trade Relations with China.  DeWine received more than $1 million from companies that outsourced U.S. jobs and voted to reward companies that ship jobs overseas.
 
“Senator DeWine rubber-stamped every job-killing trade agreement President Bush put in front of him,” said Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for Rep. Sherrod Brown.  “Mike DeWine put the profits of multinational corporations ahead of Ohio workers and businesses. Sherrod Brown stood up to presidents of both parties against the trade agreements that shuttered steel mills and auto plants in Ohio.  He supports fair trade agreements that create jobs in Ohio and put Americans first.”

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09/07/2006 / Permalink / Adwatch, Trade, (all tags)

Brown Issues Statement on Oman Free Trade Agreement

The Oman Free Trade Agreement was narrowly forced through the House Thursday. Ohio Congressman Sherrod Brown (D-Lorain County), a leader on fair trade policy, issued the following statement:

The free trade agreement with Oman makes America less secure. It compromises our homeland security and it compromises our economic security.

Mike DeWine remained silent on the Dubai Ports World deal, and remained silent on this matter of national security. Once again, he served as a rubber stamp for the president’s failed policies when he voted to support the Oman FTA.

Ohio families need leadership that speaks out and acts on their behalf.

This agreement includes provisions allowing companies from Oman to take over "landside" port activities -- operating the piers and loading and unloading cargo -- exactly the sort of things Dubai Ports World had sought to do earlier this year.

If we tried to block an Omani company’s control over critical port infrastructure, the Omani government -- or really, any company with a branch in Oman -- could sue us for violating the trade agreement.

And that case would not be heard by a US court with judges confirmed by US elected officials and charged with balancing the needs of trade and the imperative of security under US law.

It would be heard instead by an unelected, unaccountable international tribunal whose mission is trade promotion, not security enhancement.

We needed to reject the Oman FTA yesterday and its dangerous ports language. And we need to pass the TRANSEA ACT requiring systematic homeland security reviews of trade agreements.

The other problem with the Oman deal is that it extends the flawed NAFTA/CAFTA model. It protects multinational corporations by requiring that Oman maintain investment and intellectual property protections comparable to those in US law.

But for labor and environmental protection, it does not require that Oman adopt standards comparable to the US. In fact, it doesn’t require Oman to adopt any standards at all.

And like NAFTA and CAFTA before it, the Oman agreement gives us no real remedy if – and in my opinion, when -- Oman abuses the rights of its workers.

Again, violations of multinational corporations’ investments and intellectual property provisions are punishable by trade sanctions. But no such effective remedies are available to enforce labor and environmental standards.

These fatal flaws of the NAFTA/CAFTA model cost American jobs, cost Ohio more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs.

The American people deserve better than a trade deal that opens our infrastructure to new threats and subjects our workers to old ones.

07/21/2006 / Permalink / Homeland Security, Trade, (all tags)

Trading Away Our Security

From Huffington Post: 

by Sherrod Brown 

After the public outcry over the Dubai ports deal, you'd think Republicans in Washington would think twice before proposing another trade deal that could threaten our national and economic security.

Think again.

Yesterday, Senator Mike DeWine voted for a free trade agreement with Oman which then passed the Republican-controlled Senate.

A troubling provision in the agreement permits corporations from Oman and subsidiaries based there to operate U.S. ports.

If the U.S. passes port security laws after the deal takes effect, those companies could sue the U.S. government to override the laws. Any suits would be heard before international tribunals, whose chief mission is to promote their trade priorities, not safeguard our homeland.

I spoke out against the Oman deal on Lou Dobbs Tonight on Wednesday along with Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota.

Dorgan warned, "What could happen here is a circumstance where the United Arab Emirates simply buys a company in Oman, and all of a sudden they're managing America's docks and ports."

Click here to read the entire entry on Huffington Post.

06/30/2006 / Permalink / Blogging, Homeland Security, Trade, (all tags)

Mideast Trade Deal Could Undermine U.S. Security, Threaten Ohio Jobs

Dewine Silent Again On Ensuring Trade Deals Do Not Endanger Homeland
 
AMHERST-Just four months after the Dubai Ports World scandal, Republican incumbent Senator Mike DeWine is once again failing to stand up for the economic and national security of Ohio families on a Mideast trade deal.
 
The Senate is expected to begin debate this week on the U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement, which would allow international trade tribunals to override U.S. homeland security laws. The Bush administration was negotiating a similar agreement with the United Arab Emirates during the Dubai Ports World controversy. If that agreement had been completed, trade tribunals could have overruled the national security review that helped scuttle the ports deal.
 
The Oman agreement specifically authorizes Omani companies --or companies with subsidiaries in Oman -- to operate U.S. ports.  If the U.S. passes port security laws after the deal takes effect, those companies could sue the U.S. government to override the laws. Such lawsuits would be heard before international tribunals charged with trade promotion, not security.
 
"First, Mike DeWine refused to take a position on the Dubai ports deal. Then he voted against port security funding. And now he is remaining silent on the Oman deal," said Congressman Sherrod Brown (D-Lorain County). "Ohio has lost 200,000 manufacturing jobs in the last five years. Will Mike DeWine jeopardize our homeland security as well?"
 
Brown is the sponsor of the Trade-Related American National Security Enhancement and Accountability (TRANSEA) Act, which would protect Ohio by requiring a comprehensive national security review for all new trade agreements. The TRANSEA Act would also establish an independent Congressional commission to monitor the impact of trade policy on homeland security.
 
"We must not trade away our families' safety," Brown said. "Mike DeWine has supported one job-killing trade agreement after another, with no protections in place for our national security. With this Oman deal, he wants more of the same."
 
Brown is one of Congress' leading proponents of fair trade policy. Last year, he led the bipartisan fight in Congress against the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), and in 1994 he stood up to a president of his own party in opposing NAFTA. Brown introduced legislation this month to protect Ohio jobs by banning the importation of products made in sweatshops.
 
DeWine supported NAFTA and voted for CAFTA.

06/28/2006 / Permalink / Economy, Homeland Security, Trade, (all tags)

China Trade Surplus Shatters Record

DeWine-backed trade agreements costing Ohio jobs

AMHERST -- China announced yesterday that its trade surplus for the month of May reached $13 billion, breaking its own record and demonstrating the failure of trade policies backed by Ohio Republican incumbent Senator Mike DeWine.  

The United States' trade deficit with China reached $202 billion in 2005, and is expected to reach a new high this year. China's $13 billion May trade surplus represents a 44% increase from May, 2005.

A 2005 study commissioned by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission found that Ohio lost at least 42,600 job opportunities as a result of U.S.-China trade policies between 1997 and 2003.

"Multinational corporations are reaping billions of dollars in profit by exploiting Chinese workers - and pay-to-play politicians in Washington are only too happy to look the other way," said Congressman Sherrod Brown (D-Lorain County), who is running for U.S. Senate. "The policies of Senator DeWine have failed Ohio families. We need a new direction."

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06/13/2006 / Permalink / China, Jobs, Trade, (all tags)

Hu Visits White House: Brown Calls On President to Stand Up For U.S. Interests

AMHERST - On the eve of an historic visit by Communist China's President Hu Jintao to Washington D.C., Ohio Congressman Sherrod Brown (D-Lorain County) called on President George W. Bush to stand up for American workers and national security.

The U.S. has lost nearly one million jobs to China since 1997, suffered a $200 billion trade deficit with the country last year, and may be outsourcing oversight of national security assets to companies with close ties to the world's largest Communist nation.

"This administration has routinely abdicated responsibility for ensuring economic and national security," Brown said. "2006 is about change. President Bush, and his Republican allies in Congress, must decide if they stand on the side of U.S. need or multinational greed."

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04/20/2006 / Permalink / China, Economy, Jobs, National Security, Trade, (all tags)

Port Security in Toledo

Sherrod repeated his concern for Ohio's safety after it was revealed that the White House approved a deal of U.S. port security to state-owned company in the United Arab Emarites (UAE). It was also recently discovered that the U.S. is in trade negotiations with the Mideast nation. Sherrod has called on former Ohio Congressman and current United States Trade Ambassador Rob Portman to halt the trade negotiations until a thorough national security review of the nation is completed.

Click here to listen to audio.

He also discussed plans to introduce legislation that would strengthen national security review and Congressional oversight in U.S. trade agreements.

Here are some excerpts of his remarks:

Recently, the Bush administration approved the takeover of six United States ports' security by Dubai Ports World, a state-owned company controlled by the United Arab Emirates.  

Unfortunately, while this important decision had significant national security implications, it was made by the administration under the cover of darkness with no Congressional review.

Leadership in both political parties and both chambers of the U.S. Congress have joined together to strongly condemn the Bush administration for this arrangement.  

They were joined by families of 9/11 victims in urging that the Dubai Ports World deal should be reevaluated.

The Bush administration has been outsourcing jobs for five years, and now they want to outsource our national security.

In a post 9/11 world, trade agreements are no longer just vehicles for economic development.  

They are an integral part of national security and efforts to combat terrorism.

We must revamp U.S. trade policy to meet our homeland security demands to better secure our borders and protect our communities.  

Trade agreements lower tariffs and open markets.  But they also open our ports, our infrastructure, and our transportation lines.  

When we open our borders, the American people must know that we have done everything possible to protect them.

02/26/2006 / Permalink / Sherrod Brown, Toledo, Trade, (all tags)

Sherrod Calls for Halt to Trade Negotiations with the United Arab Emirates

In response to the proposed outsourcing of America's port security to the United Arab Emirates, Sherrod calls on United States Trade Ambassador Rob Portman -- a former Ohio Congressman -- to halt negotiations with the Mideast nation.  Sherrod also plans to introduce legislation that would strengthen American's national security through trade agreements.

The announcement will be made at news conference today at 2:00 PM at the Cleveland Port Authority.  Check back here for updates.

What do you feel about the UAE Port Deal?  Let Sherrod know your thoughts by writing him directly at:

http://sherrodbrown.com/write/letter

Sherrod wrote about the situation at the Huffington Post.

02/24/2006 / Permalink / National Security, Sherrod Brown, Trade, (all tags)