Christopher Doering

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – Reps. Louise Slaughter and Chris Collins joined a bipartisan group of House lawmakers from New York Wednesday to denounce an Obama administration trade deal that they say would hurt the state’s economy and cost jobs.

With the U.S. Capitol as a backdrop, the lawmakers said the Trans-Pacific Partnership would make it harder for the United States to compete with countries that pay their workers lower wages, manipulate their currencies to make their products cheaper, and do less to protect the environment and workers’ rights.

“We are here to send a message loud and clear to this administration: We oppose the TPP because it would be bad for New York and bad for the entire country,” said Slaughter, D-Fairport. “The people of Rochester … know all too well the toll that trade agreements have taken on our economy.”

The deal between the United States and 11 Pacific Rim countries would phase out or significantly reduce tariffs.

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Slaughter and the other New York House members said the TPP is the latest in a string of trade pacts that were introduced with great fanfare only to cost the country jobs and hurt middle-class families. They said New York has lost more than 370,000 manufacturing jobs since the North American Free Trade Agreement and World Trade Organization agreements took effect in 1994.

“I have yet to see a trade bill that benefited the American manufacturer and the American worker,” said Slaughter.

Collins, R-Clarence, said more and more GOP lawmakers are joining Democrats in opposing the trade deal.

Slaughter and Collins were among New York House members who signed a letter sent Wednesday to President Obama outlining their concerns with the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Other lawmakers signing the letter included Reps. Tom Reed, R-Corning; Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook; and Sean Maloney, D-Cold Spring.

The measure, announced last October, must still be approved by Congress. A vote is not expected before the Nov. 8 election.

“I do not believe TPP will pass this Congress,” Collins said. “If we don’t have fair trade we’re not going to sign any more of these ridiculous free trade agreements.”

Opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership marks a rare area of agreement between Democrats and Republicans in the 2016 election season. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Republican contenders Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, either oppose the agreement or have expressed concerns about it.

The White House and lawmakers who back the deal warn that rejecting it would spur other countries to look elsewhere for goods that could come from the United States. Obama has made passing the trade deal one of his top priorities for 2016.

"If we can get this agreement to my desk, then we can help our businesses sell more Made in America goods and services around the world, and we can help more American workers compete and win," Obama said when the deal was announced.

About 11.5 percent of jobs in the Rochester region depend on international trade, according to the Brookings Institution. The Rochester Business Alliance said scores of businesses in the area rely on trade, from giants Kodak and Xerox to smaller businesses like Transcat, Carestream Health, Unither Manufacturing, and Genesee Brewing Company.