Dear friend,

Your help is needed! During this time of economic downturn and continuing job losses, we need to reiterate our opposition to trade deals left over from the Bush Administration, such as the Panama Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Congress should not continue the Bush legacy of bad trade agreements, which cost jobs and hurt families.

We especially should not enter into a trade agreement with Panama, a country known as a tax haven for multinational corporations. A Government Accountability Office study identified Panama as one of eight countries listed on all the major tax haven watchdog lists. A trade agreement with Panama only perpetuates the use of this country as a tax haven and a money laundering center.

What America needs now is a new, balanced trade policy that creates jobs and protects families. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Representative Mike Michaud of Maine introduced the Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment, or TRADE, Act last year and will do so again in this Congress. The TRADE Act offers a blueprint for what our trade agreements with other countries should look like and ensures that these agreements are fair for all those involved.

Your members of Congress need to hear from you! Please take the time today to ask your representative and Senators to come out publicly against the Panama FTA and to sign on as a cosponsor of the TRADE Act when it is reintroduced this year. A sample e-mail has been provided for your use.

Subject: Please Say 'NO' to Panama FTA

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

I strongly urge you to oppose leftover Bush trade agreements modeled after the flawed NAFTA and CAFTA. I oppose the Panama FTA and believe that the U.S. should not enter into a trade agreement with a country that is a known tax haven for multinational corporations. A Government Accountability Office study identified Panama as one of eight countries listed on all the major tax haven watchdog lists. Entering into a trade agreement with Panama would only provide American companies looking to evade taxes with further incentives to offshore their operations and take away American jobs in the process.

The Panama FTA as currently written, along with the Colombia and South Korea trade agreements, are examples of the flawed trade policy that our country can no longer afford to live with. We cannot continue to outsource American jobs, undermine our Buy American or Buy Local procurement policies, place downward pressure on wages and labor standards, degrade the environment, import unsafe food products, or allow the decimation of family farms in other countries.

We need a new, balanced trade policy that creates jobs and protects families. Congress should work with President Obama to ensure that this happens. I urge you to oppose the Panama FTA and to cosponsor the Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment, or TRADE, Act, which will be reintroduced by Senator Sherrod Brown and Representative Mike Michaud this year. The TRADE Act offers a fair and balanced blueprint for what our trade agreements with other countries should look like.

American workers and families deserve a trade policy that protects our interests. I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]