Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC-CENTRAL AMERICA-UNITED STATES FREE TRADE AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT -- (Extensions of Remarks - July 29, 2005)
SPEECH OF
HON. AL GREEN
OF TEXAS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2005
Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Congress debated and passed H.R. 3045, the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). I voted in opposition to the trade agreement because of my concerns regarding the full ramifications of its passage and because I am a proponent of trade policies that enhance the welfare of participating countries. Any free trade agreement entered into by the United States should be fair. CAFTA, however, is neither free nor fair. CAFTA will cost American jobs, is unfair to American workers and exploits cheap foreign labor.
As we consider future trade agreements, I believe it is particularly relevant that we learn the lessons from NAFTA. We have learned that the promises of U.S. economic prosperity, curbed undocumented immigration, robust markets and massive job creation went unfulfilled. I fear that NAFTA is a precursor for what can be expected under CAFTA.
NAFTA promised millions of new jobs and a trade surplus for the United States that was never realized. Instead the U.S. has lost over one million lobs to Mexico and Canada. More specifically, the rise in the U.S. trade deficit with Canada and Mexico through 2004 has caused the displacement of production that supported over one million U.S. jobs since NAFTA was signed in 1993. Jobs have been displaced in most states and many industries in the United States. In my home state of Texas alone, more than 170,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost. The loss of these jobs has contributed significantly to the expanding burdens of unemployed workers in our state.
Why do these trade agreements cost us American jobs? Free trade agreements can create an environment that encourages corporations to relocate and take American jobs with them. By making it easier for the Central American countries to export certain products and because they have cheaper labor and weaker labor rights protections, CAFTA would encourage U.S. businesses to relocate. Though supporters tout Central America as a market for U.S. goods, it is not. CAFTA amounts to nothing more than an outsourcing agreement.
Adding insult to injury, Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) programs designed to help those who lose their jobs due to trade agreements remain underfunded and ineffective. Congress has not provided adequate funding for this program to meet the needs of thousands upon thousands of workers who have been displaced by trade. You cannot have trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA that displace American workers and yet do not provide them with any assistance when they need it.
Not only is CAFTA wrong for the U.S. economy and American workers, its exploitation of cheap foreign labor is morally deficient. CAFTA disbands internationally accepted labor standards and provides no repercussions or penalties for those that violate workers rights. In fact, CAFTA does not require nations to bring their laws into compliance with International Labor Organization (ILO) core labor standards, even though the ILO and U.S. State Department have documented numerous areas where the CAFTA countries' laws fail to comply with even the most basic international norms. This trade agreement merely encourages nations to enforce their own labor laws, no matter how weak those laws may be.
I strongly believe that workers' rights are human rights. They are critical to improving living standards and quality of life both here and abroad. Unfortunately, CAFTA will demand an honest days work without guaranteeing an honest days pay. If we were serious about helping workers in CAFTA countries, we would have gone back to the drawing board, negotiated a better deal for American workers and improved CAFTA nations' labor standards.
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