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Replace NAFTA and the So-Called ‘Free Trade’ Model with a Fair Way Forward (The TRADE Act)
Past free trade pacts such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are not actually free, and have come at great costs. The price we’ve paid for the abuse of human rights, offshoring of jobs, downward pressure on wages, destruction of our environment and loss of family farms is far too great.
Trade agreements should serve a majority of people on issues such as public health, the environment, human rights, food and consumer safety and access to essential services. Instead, these "free trade" policies, along with others put forth in the World Trade Organization (WTO), have merely worked to serve corporate interests and profit margins.
Eighteen years of failed trade policy has stymied development in the third world. It has devastated nations by forcing millions of family farmers off of their land, creating poverty, despair and mass migration. It has given broad, expansive new rights to foreign corporations to challenge environmental and public health standards. It has flooded countries with unsafe food and product imports.
We all support responsible trade between the United States and other countries, but our current system has not worked, has not met past promises, and has not served the interests of a majority of working people in our country, or the world.
The Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment (TRADE) Act (HR 3012) maps a bold new path forward, explaining what we can all support in a good agreement. It marks out the policy space for a more balanced way to expand trade. This initiative sets forth what we are for – shutting down the bogus claim that we oppose trade or have no alternative vision because we oppose past trade agreements.
First put forward by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rep. Mike Michaud (D-ME), “The TRADE Act” now enjoys the support of a majority of House Democrats. Its cosponsors include a majority of House committee chairs and subcommittee chairs, as well as 22 members of the Blue Dog caucus and 18 members of the New Democrats caucus.
With institutional backing of over 350 diverse organizations from across the country, these many faith, farm, labor and environmental organizations says it "offers a helpful roadmap for new policies that could rebuild a consensus in favor of expanded trade.”
The TRADE Act establishes basic, common sense principles upon which all future American trade agreements -- including the upcoming trans-pacific partnership agreement-- ought to be based. It shifts the argument towards discussing a new and improved trade and globalization model. It moves us beyond repeatedly fighting against expansions of failed policies, and sets a marker for where new discussion should start.
We all support increased trade, and want more of it. We all know agreements needs to be fair, and that there is nothing “free” about the high cost of the failed policies of the past. The TRADE Act can rebalance the playing field, and help us replace the NAFTA model.
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Replace NAFTA and the So-Called ‘Free Trade’ Model with a Fair Way Forward (The TRADE Act)
This idea was submitted during the first round of the 2010 Ideas for Change in America competition. To view the 10 winners of the final round, click here.
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