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.

Greg Pallesen

Vancouver, WA

Greg, currently vice president of the Association of Western Pulp & Paper Workers, describes what happened to his job at a mill in southern Washington.

“The machines I worked on were closed. Weyerhaeuser had invested about $20 million on rebuilding the paper machines -- they were huge machines, very expensive. They close them stating the reason they closed was that they could not compete on the world market...

"The machines were sold to China. They were completely dismantled. Every nut, bolt, every piece of conduit and wire. Hard to believe. Over 300 containers were shipped to China. And as we speak today, those machines are still operating, competing on a world market. Now I only know of two reasons why: cheap labor and no environmental standards.

"On the machines that were sent there, guess what the one part was that they didn't buy? The effluent treatment... So there's more than just a job loss impact. We have that. But the impact on the environment is just as catastrophic."