During his speech today at the Virginia Military Institute, Mitt Romney once again trotted out the Fox News talking point that President Obama has not negotiated any new trade agreements during his first term.
This is a lie regardless of which perspective you look at it from.
President Obama signed a trade agreement with Colombia on May 15th, 2012, and signed a trade agreement with Korea on March 15th, 2012.
The president also signed a trade agreement with Panama on October 21, 2011 which has not come into effect yet.
These trade agreements would have been signed sooner if Republicans in congress had not spent the majority of 2011 obstructing their passage. The Obama administration sought to restore billions of dollars for retraining workers who lose their jobs to overseas competition, but Republicans in congress deemed this wasteful.
The trade agreements also would have been signed sooner if the Republicans had not blocked confirmation of the secretary of commerce unless their demands on trade agreements were met.
President Obama stood up for American workers while also opening up new markets for American made goods. Mitt Romney would like you to believe this never happened.