The Panama Free Trade Agreement is one of three pending Bush-negotiated free trade agreements (FTAs) lawmakers are now trying to ram through to final passage.
But Congress must vote “No” on the bad trade deal.
Panama is one of the world’s worst tax havens, allowing the rich and an estimated 400,000 corporations, including many U.S. firms, to dodge paying taxes our communities so desperately need. The country has consistently been criticized by tax and financial crime transparency watchdogs like the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Panamanian workers continue to face steep obstacles when it comes to exercising their fundamental rights. And according to the State Department, Panama is a main site of drug money laundering by Mexican and Colombian drug kingpins.
Click here to see the real truth behind this financial crime center.
“Not only does the Panama FTA not resolve these problems, it will make them worse,” explains IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger. “Under the trade deal, corporations registered in Panama would be newly empowered to directly challenge future U.S. anti-tax haven policies. And just like all other trade deals modeled after the failed North American Free Trade Agreement, claims of any real job creation are a complete and total fallacy. This will cost America more jobs and further undermine our country’s ability to pull itself out of economic turmoil.”
Congress must reject the seriously-flawed Panama FTA. Click “Like” on the IAM Facebook page to support fair trade, not free trade!
