GW Loses "Fast track" trade authority

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Bush loses "fast track" trade authority

By John Gregerson on 7/2/2007 for Meatingplace.com


Congress refused on Saturday to renew President Bush's power to fast track trade deals, citing concerns that recent trade pacts have sent U.S. jobs abroad.

Bush is only the second president since 1975 to lose the so-called Trade Promotion Authority. Bill Clinton was the first.


Failure to renew TPA means trade deals struck by the Bush administration could be subject to alterations by Congress. Under TPA, members of Congress could only vote "yes" or "no" on trade pacts.

U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab said failure to renew TPA will hamper U.S. efforts to boost trade. "More than 100 bilateral trade negotiations are currently under way among our trading partners. It is important that [the U.S.] not sit on the sidelines as other countries lock in new preferential trading arrangements with our competitors."
 
R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America


"Fighting for the U.S. Cattle Producer"



For Immediate Release Contact: Shae Dodson, Communications Coordinator
July 2, 2007 Phone: 406-672-8969; e-mail: [email protected]



Cattle Industry Opposes South Korean FTA

Due to USTR, USDA Failures



Washington, D.C. – R-CALF USA does not support the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) because it does not contain the safeguards, special rules, or rules of origin necessary to meet the minimal conditions important to the economic well-being of independent U.S. cattle producers.



"Specifically, KORUS does not include the special rules that Congress mandated in the Trade Act of 2002 to reflect the perishable nature of cattle and beef," said R-CALF USA Trade Committee Chair Eric Nelson. "There continues to be this open disregard for past Congressional mandates by this Administration and the Administrative branch.


"KORUS includes neither safeguards to protect independent cattle producers for import surges and excess price volatility, nor an adequate rule of origin to prevent South Korea from exporting beef derived from cattle sourced from other countries," he pointed out. "R-CALF recognizes that South Korea has been an important beef export market in the past – without a free trade agreement in place – indicating that it could be an important export market in the future with or without KORUS.



"R-CALF USA insists that the provisions necessary to address the unique marketing characteristics of cattle and beef must be included in all free trade agreements in order to maintain fairness and equity for independent cattle producers in all countries," Nelson emphasized.



"We urge Congress to oppose the U.S.-Korean FTA until our U.S. trade negotiators begin following Congress's mandate and the recommendations of U.S. cattle producers to incorporate provisions important to our industry," concluded Nelson.



# # #



R-CALF USA (Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America) is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle industry. R-CALF USA represents thousands of U.S. cattle producers on trade and marketing issues. Members are located across 47 states and are primarily cow/calf operators, cattle backgrounders, and/or feedlot owners. R-CALF USA has more than 60 affiliate organizations and various main-street businesses are associate members. For more information, visit http://www.r-calfusa.com or, call 406-252-2516.
 
NAFTA-style free trade policy fails



Opinion

By STAN SORSCHER*

GUEST COLUMNIST

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

July 5, 2007



Fast track expired at the end of June. It's just as well.



Officially known as Trade Promotion Authority, it authorized the president to negotiate trade agreements, which Congress could accept or reject "as is"; no changes allowed.



Congress writes all other laws -- for taxes, military spending, immigration, environmental policy, agriculture and space exploration, among other things.



Fast Track applies only to trade agreements. The executive branch writes agreements with substantial help from the business and investor communities. Congress and the public are excluded from the process.



In the past 20 years, we got WTO, NAFTA, CAFTA and many smaller agreements. Although free trade advocates promised shared prosperity and mutual gains, our actual experience has been an astronomical trade deficit, the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs, the steady de-industrialization of our economy, stagnant wage growth, and growing income inequality. Workers in Latin America and other countries similarly failed to enjoy promised rewards.

Free trade advocates promised us "access to markets." In 1995, we thought that meant access to consumers around the world who would buy goods we make in America. More often, it simply meant access to producers in low-cost countries such as Mexico, China and India, who make goods for us to consume.


One of the "free" parts of free trade has been freedom from regulation. Trade agreements shield investors and businesses from regulations designed to protect public health, the environment, worker rights and human rights. Public policy enacted by federal and state governments can bring ruinous trade sanctions. As a result, the interests of businesses and investors are placed above public interest. Public interests are fine, as long as they do not restrict trade in any way.



Is this a good thing? Most people would say no.



Our current trade policy isn't actually about "trade," in the strict sense. Instead, it's about global economic integration. Here's trade: We make something and trade it for something else we want. The cliché is, "They do what they do best, we do what we do best, and we trade."



So, what does America make that the rest of the world wants to buy? Under current trade policy, not much. We pay dollars for goods and pile up debt -- to the tune of more than $800 billion annually and growing. That's not trade.


Global economic integration is very different. For example, our 50 states form the integrated U.S. economy. The European Union is economically integrated. When you integrate a high-income region with a low-income region, you get leveling. That's why Europe won't let Russia into the European Union.



Our trade policy creates global economic integration by design. Businesses and investors wrote the language in trade agreements to accomplish exactly that. The public was excluded from every step of the process, and it shows. Fast Track is the final step. It prevents Congress from addressing the leveling issues that skew the benefits to a few and the costs to the rest of us.



With 15 years of experience, we can see that the NAFTA-style "free trade" policy has failed to serve the public interest. The last thing we need now is a fast track to more failed trade policy.



*Stan Sorscher is an officer of the Washington Fair Trade Coalition, and is on staff at SPEEA, a labor union representing engineers, scientists and technical workers.



seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion
 

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