Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/free-trade-hurts-american-workers-afl-cio-director-says Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript As the U.S. trade deficit hits a record $800 billion a year and manufacturing jobs continue to flow overseas, AFL-CIO policy director Thea Lee discusses free trade's impact on U.S. jobs. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. PAUL SOLMAN, NewsHour Economics Correspondent: The president was visiting a Caterpillar plant in Illinois recently, trying to drum up support for accelerating free trade by having Congress grant him so-called fast-track authority to negotiate new tariff reductions. GEORGE W. BUSH: It's a topic of hot debate. The temptation is to say, "Well, trade may not be worth it. Let's isolate ourselves. Let's protect ourselves." PAUL SOLMAN: The president is talking about a growing tide of opposition from the Democratic Congress and new members, like Betty Sutton of Ohio, whose district is hemorrhaging manufacturing jobs. THEA LEE, AFL-CIO: This is not hypothetical any more, 200,000 jobs lost since NAFTA. PAUL SOLMAN: Urging Sutton to crack free trade down was Thea Lee, policy director of the AFL-CIO. THEA LEE: We represent American workers, and that's always going to be our top concern, is looking after their jobs, their wages, their benefits.