CAFTA—More False Promises
By John J. Sweeney
Increasing jobs. Raising the standard of living. Spreading the wealth.
That’s what America’s workers are being promised with the latest trade boondoggle now in Congress, the Dominican Republic-Central AmericanFree Trade Agreement (CAFTA).
But we’ve heard those promises before. In 1993, America’s workers were promised that passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would stimulate the economy through new jobs, more opportunities, better options.
Instead, nearly 900,000 U.S. jobs have been lost or not created because of skyrocketing deficits under NAFTA, and real wages in Mexico have fallen, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
Now, Big Business-backed members of Congress and the president are at it again. But no elected official who cares about the well-being of working people can vote for CAFTA.
Because CAFTA is so similar to NAFTA, we know what it won’t do: It won’t create more jobs or provide vast new trade opportunities. Here’s what this flawed trade deal will do:
Eliminate U.S. jobs. CAFTA supporters say the pact will open markets and create more U.S. jobs—but the Central American market is tiny, and not likely to absorb significant increases in U.S. exports. American agriculture already controls 99 percent of the CAFTA nation’s corn import market, 98 percent for rice and 85 percent for wheat. In fact, the Bush administration’s own studies on CAFTA, prepared by the International Trade Commission, conclude CAFTA will actually increase our trade deficit with Central America slightly—not spur job growth.
Increase poverty in Central America. Despite overwhelming evidence that Central America’s labor laws and practice allow employers to routinely abuse workers, CAFTA utterly fails to address this problem. CAFTA’s one enforceable workers’ rights provision requires only that countries enforce their own labor laws—laws that even the U.S. State Department has documented as failing to meet international standards. And CAFTA would allow countries to further weaken or gut their labor laws at any time, with no penalties possible.
Give Big Business a big payoff. CAFTA includes excessive protections for multinational corporations that will undermine the ability of governments to protect public health and the environment. To comply with CAFTA, the U.S. Trade Representative and pharmaceutical companies forced Guatemala to pass data protections that could impose an additional five-year waiting period on generic drugs. Humanitarian organizations, such as Doctors Without Borders, have objected that these provisions in CAFTA will make newer medicines harder to afford.
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