For too long, debates over international trade have been dominated by corporate elites and economic ideologues, rather than rooted in the experiences of ordinary Americans.
The Trade Stories Project allows people who have been affected by policies and institutions like NAFTA and the WTO to share their views on a matter crucial to the global economy.
This includes displaced workers, farmers, small business owners and immigrants who have been typically excluded from the trade debate.
Angela Kile
Hermiston, OR
Angela was one of 719 people to lose her job in a town of 13,000 when the J.R. Simplot potato processing plant moved abroad under NAFTA.
"When we take away someone's livelihood, we take away their pride; we take away their sense of self. Because a lot of these people spent most of their lives working at Simplot. We took away who they were. That's pretty much how I feel about the situation...
"I was able to take up on the opportunity [of Trade Adjustment Assistance job retraining]. A lot of people aren't. They cannot financially afford to live on unemployment while they are going to college. They've got mouths to feed. I've got a husband who feeds our mouths for us. Thank God. If I was a single mom, there's no way I could have done this.
"One of the guys I knew that went to work at another facility had been at Simplot for 27 years -- been there since the plant opened. He took a job at another facility here that's just a joke. People I saw treated with the utmost respect at Simplot, that I would never in a million years ever dream of back talking, are being treated like dogs at other facilities. And they hear from other facilities, 'We don't like the Simplot people; we don't want to hear about Simplot. This isn't Simplot. Get over it.' That's what the people are hearing when they get new jobs.
"It's not a very encouraging marketplace. People that I saw held in the utmost esteem, that you and I would never backtalk, are treated like trash at other facilities because they can't leave. It sickens me."