Liberalism - hurting the ones you love

So what is the impact of the killing the Columbia Free trade agreement?

It's been a boon to Canada.........

These days, what would a firm that outsourced 400,000 U.S. jobs be called? The answer: labor union. Monday's Canada-Colombia free-trade pact is its masterpiece.

Leo Gerard, the proudly Canadian president of the United Steelworkers Union, is one of many who ought to stand up and take a bow.

He and his fellow Big Labor union bosses loudly opposed the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement, using their political muscle to keep the already-negotiated deal on ice in Congress and the White House for nearly five years.

It's come at a massive cost to American workers' jobs.

Gerard's native land put its free trade agreement with Colombia into force Monday, meaning tariffs have been cut to zero on 80% of all goods Canadian companies sell to Colombia.

Meanwhile American companies continue to shell out tariffs of 15% to 50% more.

That means American market share on wheat, barley, chemicals and machine-tool parts — made of USWA steel — that once belonged to America will shift to Canada. Already U.S. market share is down — corn, for one, plunged 56% in 2009. It may go to zero.

Now hundreds of thousands of jobs will also be going to Canada, instead of the U.S.

Here's what I don't get. Let's just assume, for the sake of argument, that Columbian free trade kills US manufacturing jobs. What jobs are created by importing goods from Columbia?

Hundreds, if not thousands, of unionized dock worker jobs.

So unions are working against the union's own interests. Tell me how that makes sense.

Even Frank Sobotka gets that.

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