Washington, D.C.
The 2006 mid-term election swept several dozen free-trade incumbents out of office, replacing the vast majority with candidates who campaigned pledging to oppose unfair trade agreements and tax policies that ship good American jobs offshore. Across the country, from Ohio to Iowa, from Florida to California, voters resoundingly rejected more failed corporate trade deals and demanded a change in course.
Rather than admitting that current policies are not delivering the desired outcomes, the free-trade elite continue to insist that more free trade deals are needed to lift the Third World out of poverty and boost American competitiveness. It all sounds very appealing. The only problem is it doesn’t work.
President Bush’s pro-corporate trade agenda has delivered an $800 billion trade deficit, stagnant real wages, and the decimation of our manufacturing sector in the U.S., while exacerbating human rights abuses and growing inequality in many of our trading partners and fanning the flames of anti-Americanism.
We call on our elected officials to pause, review, and reform current trade, tax, and currency policies – rather than barrel along on the current path.
First, we need to pause. Rather than rushing to negotiate new bilateral free trade deals and trying vainly to resuscitate flagging global talks, we should slow down the rush to new agreements.
The second priority is to review the agreements we have already put in place. We need to re-examine the content and performance of current agreements to see where their strengths and weaknesses are and how we can do better in the future. Tracing the actual trade and investment patterns that result from new trade deals, as well as their impacts on living standards, social regulation and communities, would allow us to have a much more nuanced debate about the actual outcomes of trade deals – rather than their promised benefits. Congress should not simply renew the status quo fast track authority for President Bush until this process is completed.
Finally, we must reform the current trade regime so that we can renew our commitment to participating in a just global economy, one that works for working families and not just to boost the profits and power of multinational corporations. The labor movement is committed to working with our allies in the global movement for fair trade and global justice, including environmental and development organizations and human, civil, and women’s rights advocates, as well as family farmers and domestic producers.
We believe that fairer trade rules are essential to protecting vulnerable and disenfranchised workers in developing countries, as well as the jobs and living standards of American workers. But we will never get the change we and our brothers and sisters around the world so urgently need and deserve if we stay the current course.