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The 2009 TRADE Act

Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment (TRADE) Act

What is the 2009 TRADE Act?

A Balanced Way to Expand Trade

- The TRADE Act maps out a fair path forward, explaining what we care about in a good agreement. - It lays out the blueprint for how we can fix the existing model, showing what a responsible pacts would look like, and the procedures needed to get us there.- The bill shifts the debate towards discussing a new and improved globalization model.- It moves beyond repeatedly fighting against expansions of failed policies, and sets a marker for where new discussion should start later this year.

Answering Failed Policies of the Past

- Pacts such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and  the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) have not met up to their basic promises. - These agreements should be serving a majority of people on issues such as wages, public health, the environment, human rights, food and consumer safety and access to essential services. - Instead, these "free trade" policies have come at great costs. The price we’ve paid in offshoring of jobs, downward pressure on wages, and damage to our environment and loss of family farms is far too great. 

The Purpose of the Trade Act

- 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 these old failed agreements of the past- This bill sets forth concrete ways to push our shared conviction that trade and investment are not ends unto themselves, but must also serve as a means for achieving greater societal goals.- This bill also serves as a litmus test. By seeing who cosponsors -- and who does not -- we know who our trade champions (and chumps) are in the future.

We cannot lose the hope brought about in 2008 elections, and need to continue the fight for future trade agreements now more than ever. Trade can serve a majority of people on public health, the environment, human rights, food safety and access to essential services, and the 2009 TRADE act can help us realize these goals.

Please contact your congressional members today and urge them to co-sponsor the 2009 TRADE Act!

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1034/t/537/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27343