United States-Oman Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act

UNITED STATES-OMAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT -- (Senate - June 29, 2006)

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Mr. REED. Mr. President, I rise today to speak in opposition to the Oman Free Trade Agreement.

International trade, if reached through the right paths, can confer tremendous benefits on all of its participants. Through this practice and agreements like this one, we have the opportunity not only to open up market access for American business but also to improve economic conditions for all participants.

Unfortunately, the Oman Free Trade Agreement fails to live up to that potential. This agreement does not provide for American business, while at the same time it fails workers both here, I believe, and potentially in Oman.

In 2001, the United States entered into a similar trade agreement with the country of Jordan. At that time, the agreement was heralded for its progressive labor standards. However, we have recently seen in Jordan instances of foreign workers forced into slave labor, stripped of their passports, denied their wages, and compelled to work for days without rest.

These incidents have been occurring in Jordan because Jordanian labor laws are only applicable to its own citizens and preclude protections for foreign workers.

What I sense is happening is that we have allowed, unwittingly, I believe, individuals and corporations in Jordan to exploit this agreement, to actually move people from countries outside of Jordan into Jordan, and to set up conditions that are not only horrible for the individuals but continue to put pressure on American working men and women in terms of reduced wages, and also do not act to raise the standard of living in Jordan.

One of the points of our agreement with Jordan was to provide the kind of conditions that would raise the standard of living for Jordanian workers. So I am terribly concerned about what could happen in Oman.

My fear in Oman is that they have far weaker labor standards, and that would lend itself to even worse conditions than in Jordan. In fact, the potential for seeing these types of abuses is much higher in Oman, where up to 70 percent of its workforce is comprised of foreign workers already.

During the ``mock markup'' of this agreement last month--the practice of the Finance Committee where they would go through and, in theory and concept, make the changes they would like to see take place--the Finance Committee unanimously approved an amendment to explicitly prohibit products made with slave labor or through human trafficking from benefitting from this deal, conditions similar to those in the Jordanian Free Trade Agreement. However, the administration chose not to include this simple, commonsense provision in the final implementing legislation before us today.

When our trade partners are held to different, less stringent standards, no one is better off. When Omani firms can employ workers in substandard conditions, the Omani workers and American workers both lose. The playing field is not level. The enforceable provisions of this free-trade agreement require only that Oman and the United States enforce their existing labor laws.

In Oman, this means that workers can be denied the right to collectively bargain and to strike. More egregious, Omani law is vague in its forbiddance of forced labor. I appreciate the commitments of Oman to clarify these provisions and to improve enforcement. However, the timeline for doing this is far too long. If we implement this agreement, and Oman fails to live up to its promises, then this agreement will benefit a few while hurting many.

I would note that part of the problem with all of these agreements is that they are considered under the President's fast-track authority, under which Congress is forced to take or leave even the most imperfect deals. And when the President ignores valuable input from Congress, particularly on issues such as labor standards, we are put in a position where our only choice is to vote against it.

I am a supporter of free trade, but that does not require me to support bad deals from an administration that is more concerned about getting a deal than getting the deal right.

We cannot allow other countries to break the rules. Our foreign trade partners must play by the same rules as we do because American companies and workers cannot compete with countries that engage in substandard labor practices. We have seen it again and again: trade policies that don't establish a real threshold for labor standards do not work.

So, Mr. President, I will vote against the Oman Free Trade Agreement.

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