Speaker says Maine ignored in federal trade agreements Industry researcher cites imbalance of importing, exporting

BANGOR – The interests of Maine’s manufacturers have been virtually ignored by the federal government as it establishes trade agreements with foreign countries, an industry spokesman said Tuesday.

Alan Tonelson, a research fellow at the U.S. Business & Industry Council Educational Foundation in Washington, D.C., traveled through Maine this week to give a series of public talks about his opposition to trade pacts such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Tonelson was interviewed at the Bangor Daily News between speaking engagements at the University of Maine and in Augusta.

Tonelson’s organization lobbies on behalf of more than 1,500 private manufacturing companies nationwide, each of which employs between five and 500 workers. Tonelson rejects the notion that the manufacturing industry has slowed because of new technology. He said manufacturers are simply in need of better support from the federal and state governments.

“It’s not that manufacturing is old-fashioned and obsolete, it’s that U.S. companies are not faring as well in the home market and international market as they should,” Tonelson said. “We’re making less and less of what we’re using.”

The rising economic success of China, India and Japan is largely due to U.S. consumer and political support, Tonelson said. The countries’ large populations and lower wages have attracted large, international companies and the U.S. is not effectively responding to questionable foreign trade practices – such as China undervaluing its currency and artificially lowering prices – that do not comply with international law, Tonelson said.

“This is putting unimaginable price pressure on U.S. companies, who really cannot win,” Tonelson said.

In response to a question, Tonelson said enforcing existing agreements is not as important as how the U.S. crafts new trade deals.

Tonelson was escorted through Maine by U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud’s press secretary, Monica Castellanos, and by Peter Connell, president and chief executive officer of Oxford Homes in Oxford and a member of the Maine Citizen Trade Policy Commission. Tonelson said his office is working closely with Michaud and has encouraged the congressman, a former paper mill worker, to lead efforts to limit foreign imports.

“He [Michaud] votes the right way as we see it,” Tonelson said.