Free-trade pacts caught in crossfire http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/54215_Page2.html

The Chamber has also been traveling the country with the South Korean ambassador promoting the deals. Since the beginning of the year, the Chamber has organized grass-roots activities in at least 10 states, including New Mexico, Colorado, Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and South Carolina, said Chamber trade lobbyist Scott Eckart.“We are putting significant resources into this, and it’s still being determined. We are going to be doing ad campaigns,” said another Chamber trade lobbyist, Christopher Wenk. “We’re not shy about pouring resources into our top priorities.”

But Public Citizen’s Lori Wallach said critics of the trade deals don’t need flashy campaigns because the majority of the country doesn’t want the trade deals, which she says won’t create new jobs but only support existing ones.“We don’t have to gin up grass roots. As soon as people in local churches … hear that President Obama is suddenly pushing [former President George W.] Bush’s leftover NAFTA- style deals, the first thing they do is go to their congressman and say, ‘You have to stop this. It’s going to kill my job,” said Wallach, noting the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada had created hundreds of billions of dollars in trade deficits.