Coalition Fly-in Visits Washington

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The Coalition for a Prosperous America held a trade fly-in last week. The focus was approximately 80 congressional offices where U.S. ranchers, manufacturers and organized labor groups told Congress that current U.S. trade policy has failed America. They stressed it is past time for the U.S. to do what every other major trading nation has already done – implement a national trade strategy that promotes domestic productivity and economic growth.

R-CALF USA Trade Committee Chair Reed Kelley and R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard were part of the delegation. Kelley says - we believe the diverse membership of our Coalition, once understood, is intriguing to our U.S. Senators and Representatives. The fact is that organizations which historically have not always seen eye-to-eye on many national policy issues have now joined together. Delegation members include U.S. tool and die manufacturers, metal fabricators, electronics manufacturers, farm groups and representatives of labor groups.

According to Kelley, - we explained that while the U.S. continues to naively practice idealistic free trade, every other country is practicing strategic trade management. As a result, the U.S., for each of the past 18 years, has suffered a huge trade deficit that is the largest in world history.