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.

Mark Weiss

White City, OR

Mark worked at Royal Oak Enterprises' charcoal briquette plant in southern Oregon for 19 years before it closed in 2005 in competition with imports. 

“It gave me a lot of stress. I was in that job for a long time, and it was a good job for the valley here. It turned my plans upside down. It affected me adversely, in that my security was taken away.

"China was infiltrating the market with less costly briquettes, due to them paying pennies for the man-hours and lesser restrictions on what they put into their products.

"People with families are losing their jobs because they're going out of the country. What are they going to do? They're losing their homes and the necessities for living. I know more people going to food banks and collecting unemployment. It's not a good thing."