President Obama’s proposed free trade pact with South Korea could promote more offshoring yet bring other benefits to Portland.
President Obama’s proposed free trade pact with South Korea could promote more offshoring yet bring other benefits to Portland.
Experts disagree on whether the loss of jobs could translate to a net gain for Portland and Oregon.
“This is a deal that really threatens the future of Oregon’s economy,” says Arthur Stamoulis, director of the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign, a labor and environmental coalition based in Portland. His group estimates that Oregon lost 75,000 jobs to free-trade pacts from 1994 to 2009.
Oregon shipped an estimated $1 billion in goods to South Korea last year. And South Korea accounts for one-tenth of all the imports arriving through the Port of Portland, says Josh Thomas, port spokesman. Any increase in trade either direction means more jobs for longshoremen, truckers, railroad workers, logistics clerks and others, he says.
Portland consumers stand to get cheaper Hyundai cars once the U.S. drops its truck and SUV tariffs under the pact. And the deal also could boost sales of Oregon wheat, Portland software and locally designed Hyster forklifts.
Read more at The Portland Tribune.
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