Food First joins 20 labor, environmental, family farm and faith groups in supporting a just-introduced U.S. Trade Bill
Media Release
Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
Contact: Eric Holt-Gimenez, Executive Director, Food First
202-288-8699
The Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment (TRADE) Act, the bill was introduced by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine) today in Washington D.C. Twenty leading labor, environmental, family farm and faith groups are supporting this new consensus legislation which offers a positive vision for future U.S. trade policy. The bill articulates specific changes needed to the failed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)/World Trade Organization (WTO) model to ensure trade deals achieve good jobs, safe food and the promotion of basic human rights, healthy communities and environmental protection.
The act triggers a review of all existing trade agreements, and provides a process to renegotiate them. The bill also outlines principles of what should be included in future trade agreements, and expresses the sense of the Congress that their role in trade policymaking should be strengthened. “The TRADE Act’s clear articulation of what we’re for, and its very specific benchmarks for current and future trade agreements provides a balanced way forward that grounds our trade policy on the impact these policies have on American’s everyday lives,” said Rep. Michaud. “Instead of rhetoric, the TRADE Act calls for concrete results.”
“The TRADE Act defines a plan for a fair trade policy that will allow American agriculture to compete on a level playing field. Under the current free trade agenda Americas trading partners are not required to meet the same high labor, environmental, and health and safety standards as American farmers and ranchers,” said Minnesota Farmers Union President, Doug Peterson.
“Global trade has the potential to be a powerful force for democracy and economic and social justice throughout the world, if done correctly. The TRADE Act is the beginning of the discussion about how we can do trade fairly, without destroying our environment or the livelihoods of American working families in the process,” said Russell Hess, President of Southeast Central Labor Council AFL-CIO.
Dennis Olson of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy Action, also praised the initiative, saying, “For too long, trade agreements have deregulated agricultural markets to promote exports at any cost. Unfortunately, the growing world food crisis, contrasted with windfall profits of transnational agribusiness cartels, reflects the absolute bankruptcy of this failed NAFTA-WTO model. This bill outlines a new approach that establishes the right of all countries to increase food self-sufficiency based on independent family farm agriculture and sound conservation practices."
The TRADE Act was introduced following a presidential primary season that saw trade policy rise to the top of American’s concerns. With several Democratic candidates promising to renegotiate existing agreements (visit www.citizenstrade.org/positions.php for those commitments), the TRADE Act provides a blueprint for how to best remedy many of these past problems in trade agreements.
According to the Director of the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition, Alicia Ranney, “Labor, family farm, environmental and other progressive organizations want to see a responsible expansion of trade. The TRADE Act is a balanced way to expand trade, offering us all a fair way to move forward.
The TRADE Act offers positive steps to help countries practice food sovereignty instead of "free trade." Ben Burkett, President of the National Family Farm Coalition and a Mississippi farmer said, "We applaud the introduction of the TRADE act. The legislation is clear that fair trade begins with farmers being able to earn fair prices reflecting cost of production, fair treatment of farm labor, and limitations against unfair dumping practices. It allows for countries who are part of a trade agreement to establish strategic food and energy reserves, an important policy that must be reinstated to address the global food crisis."
The TRADE Act comes at an opportune time to begin addressing the global food crisis, as world leaders gather this week in Rome at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization conference. NFFC is deeply disappointed that USDA Secretary Ed Schafer and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon continue to advocate for more free trade policies and advancing the Doha Round as a solution to address high food prices. "It is outrageous for our leaders to continue their disastrous trade liberalization policies, ignoring that free trade has caused the instability threatening our food security. Family farmers around the world have been devastated by below-cost dumping from agribusinesses as a result of the WTO and free trade. Countries have surrendered their food sovereignty to the likes of Cargill and Wall Street," said NFFC Vice-President Dena Hoff, who is at the UN FAO meeting as a civil society participant with Via Campesina
The current U.S. trade model has had devastating impacts on the livelihoods of many working Americans. Since 1975, when Fast Track was first enacted, the trade deficit has gone from a slight surplus to an unsustainable $709 billion deficit in 2007. A net 4.7 million manufacturing jobs have been lost. American worker productivity doubled, but median wages are only one percent above 1970s levels.
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