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Lugar Paving Way for Job-killing FTAPublished 11/04/09 Dustin Ensinger - Print ArticleE-mail - editor@economyincisis.org Legislation introduced last month in the U.S. Senate could pave the way for yet another job-killing free trade agreement. Senate Resolution 311, introduced by Indiana Senator Dick Lugar, would direct U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk to negotiate a free trade agreement with the Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN). “The United States should proceed to develop a comprehensive strategy toward engaging ASEAN in serious FTA discussions,” Lugar said in a press release. While Lugar admitted that the negotiations would be difficult, he painted it as an economic imperative given the foothold America’s competitors are gaining in the region. “While this endeavor will be complex and have possible challenges to negotiation given the varying levels of economic development and open markets among ASEAN countries, China, India, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea have already finalized FTAs with ASEAN and are sharpening a competitive edge over the U.S. in Southeast Asia,” Lugar said. 
One possible impediment to a free trade agreement with ASEAN is the fact that Burma/Myanmar is a member of the regional partnership. Due to brutal military rule in the country, the U.S. has virtually no economic relationship with the nation. However, Lugar said that this should not prevent the U.S. from moving forward with a trade pact, and added that moving forward with negotiations would send a strong signal about America‘s commitment to the region ahead of the president‘s trip there for the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in mid-November. “Ongoing trade restrictions with Burma should not deter U.S. efforts to reach an FTA with the rest of ASEAN,” Lugar said. “President Obama’s possible meeting with ASEAN leaders while in Singapore will reflect the significance of the U.S. – ASEAN relationship.” ASEAN is comprised of the nations of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The U.S. has had a comprehensive trade and investment framework with the trade bloc since August 2006. Because of legislation introduced by Lugar, the U.S. has had an ambassador to ASEAN since 2006. ASEAN is currently America’s fifth largest trading partner, behind Canada, Mexico, China and the European Union. According to Lugar’s office, two-way trade between the U.S. and ASEAN totals roughly $180 billion per year. Yet, of the 10 nations making up ASEAN, the U.S. holds a trade surplus with just three through August 2009. Overall, the U.S. holds a $29 billion trade deficit with the region. Click here to contact your Representative in Congress. 
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Not to mention that the regimes in Southeast Asia are largely dominated by the military juntas or communist parties of the region. With the exception of Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, the rest of the countries are ran by tyrants or a Communist party.
Some way to bring everyone into the fold that way we can decrease the US standard of living, go into debt further, and destroy what's left of our infrastructure.
Interesting that we fought a war in Southeast Asia from 1945 until 1975 either giving weapons to the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954 and then our own forces from 1954 to 1975, all to trade what we have left with Communist regimes in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. So much for the 58,000 lives that were sacrificed in SE Asia as well as the couple thousand MIAs and POWs that were left there without cooperation. Even the Vietnamese Communists had soldiers of ours from the 1960s and 70s left over in Vietnam during the last 3 decades. Yet, we are opening our markets to more foreign made material and products while we have 10 percent unemployment and a weakening economic picture brought on by massive debt.