United State-Oman Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act

UNITED STATES-OMAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, we have a failed trade policy and the United States-Oman Free Trade Agreement, OFTA, implementation legislation the Senate is being asked to consider today is a continuation of that failed trade policy. This failure is reflected in a trade deficit that reached a record $717 billion last year and in the loss of 2.8 million manufacturing jobs over the past 5 years.

The OFTA implementing legislation fails to insist on basic internationally recognized labor standards, yet this agreement is being rushed through the Senate under fast-track procedures that only allow Members of Congress an up-or-down vote and no chance to amend or improve it one day after it was voted out of the Finance Committee and with no report. Although I support free and fair trade, as well as increasing our economic ties with Oman, I believe any trade agreement entered into by the United States should include commitments to international labor standards.

Writing labor and environmental standards into trade agreements is an important way to ensure that free trade is fair trade. But unlike the 2001 Jordan Free Trade Agreement, the OFTA fails to include internationally recognized, core labor standards supported by most countries in the world. Those standards include the right to organize/associate; the right to bargain collectively; a prohibition on child labor; a prohibition on discrimination in employment; and a prohibition on forced labor.

In the case of Oman, its laws do not meet core International Labor Organization, ILO, standards, and therefore the agreement's requirement that Oman simply ``enforce its own laws'' is inadequate.

Rejecting the OFTA implementing legislation as currently drafted would be a sound rejection of the failed and flawed trade policies of the past and a signal of support for a better approach to trade that is a two-way street and trade that supports the rights of workers.

I am disappointed that the administration ignored the Senate Finance Committee amendment forbidding any goods produced with slave labor or benefiting from human trafficking from benefiting from the agreement. This amendment passed the committee unanimously, yet the administration did not include it in the legislation it sent to Congress. This is especially unfortunate in light of recent revelations that such labor abuses are occurring in Jordan despite a United States-Jordan FTA that included labor and environmental protections unlike the agreement under consideration today. It also shows a blatant disregard on the part of the administration of the advice and input of Congress in developing trade agreements.

I do not support the agreement before us as crafted, and without the chance to improve it, I must oppose it. Trade should not be a race to the bottom in which U.S. workers must compete with countries that do not recognize core international labor standards and basic worker rights.

http://thomas.loc.gov/