Source: Carnegie
For Immediate Release: August 9, 2002Contact: Scott Nathanson, 202-939-2211, snathanson@ceip.org
Will Labor Rights Survive Bush’s Fast Track Authority?
Expert Sees Administration Facing Crucial Choice for Future Trade Policy
After contentious debate and razor-thin votes, President Bush ended a nearly decade’s long debate when he signed the bill granting his administration Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), also known as fast track. In a new Carnegie issue brief, The Coming Choice on Global Trade and Labor Rights senior associate Sandra Polaski argues that the administration must now make a crucial choice on the new and controversial issues on the global trade agenda: labor and environmental rights.
Polaski, who served as the special representative for international labor affairs at the U.S. Department of State, notes that by inserting labor and environmental negotiating goals within TPA, Congress responded to public concerns that unchecked trade liberalization can lead to a loss of U.S. jobs and undermine labor and environmental standards in the developing world. Now, Polaski says, as bilateral trade negotiations resume with Chile and Singapore, the administration may either use Congress’ stipulations as a tool to make global trade a winning proposition for broad sections of society, or bow to corporate pressure and attempt to sidestep Congress’ mandate.
Polaski demonstrates that historically both Chile and Singapore have improved their labor standards in order to win U.S. tariff preferences. Both nations show a willingness to negotiate within the congressionally mandated framework but are waiting for President Bush to make his trade agenda clear. To Polaski, however, the benefits of including strong labor and environmental standards are already clear. "Good economic policy, workers’ rights, rule of law, effective courts and sustainable environmental stewardship all go hand in hand in successful countries. We can help our trading partners do the right thing on more than one issue at a time," she writes.
Polaski also cautions Congress that it cannot become complacent now that it has put TPA in the hands of the President. If a genuine and productive consensus on trade is to be built, Congress must exercise its right to send informed representatives to the negotiating table and take part in the formulation, negotiation, and implementation of U.S. positions on labor and the environment.
The brief is available online at www.ceip.org/trade.
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