Brown Calls Bahrain FTA "More of the Same"

BROWN CALLS BAHRAIN FTA "MORE OF THE SAME"
December 7, 2005

WASHINGTON - Before casting his vote against the Bahrain Free Trade Agreement today, Congressman Sherrod Brown (OH-13) issued the enclosed speech on the House floor. Brown, who led the bipartisan opposition to this summer's Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), expressed his disappointment at ongoing White House failures to address key environmental and labor standards in free trade agreements.

CAFTA passed the House by one vote, and only after Vice President Dick Cheney, U.S. Commerce Secretary Robert Gutierrez, and U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman made personal appearances outside the House chamber during the vote to twist arms and cut deals. Opponents of CAFTA argued that the agreement would exacerbate U.S. job loss suffered during the 12 years since the North American Free Trade Agreement became law.

Rhode Island-based textile company, George C. Moore Co., announced last Wednesday plans to ship 203 Edenton, North Carolina manufacturing jobs to El Salvador in 2006. According a December 3, 2005 story in the Boston Globe, Edenton Town Manager Anne-Marie Knighton said the decision was a direct result of CAFTA. "They were one of our largest employers, in certainly one of our oldest industries," Knighton said. "They came to Edenton in the early 60s and have been a good, good, corporate citizen," the Globe reported.

SHERROD BROWN STATEMENT TO FOLLOW:
"Today I must vote against the Bahrain Free Trade Agreement. Unfortunately, despite the tough battle over the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), very little has changed. It's too bad, because this trade agreement today could have been a step forward. But it's just the same rubber stamp trade template this administration refuses to alter.

"Certainly, people are praising USTR Portman for being a nice guy, but there have been no policy changes. He might meet with a few members on our side of the aisle, but then, when you look at the text of the Bahrain trade agreement, I note that just like CAFTA, labor and environmental provisions are given short shrift.

"Meanwhile, intellectual property protections and financial protections are as strong as ever. We continue to protect corporate interests instead of workers. We continue to protect drug companies instead of the environment. We continue to protect financial institutions instead of food safety.

"My main concern with the Bahrain Free Trade Agreement is that it represents more business as usual.

"When I first ran for Congress in 1992, we had a trade deficit of $38 billion. A dozen years later, in 2004, it had skyrocketed to $618 billion. This year the United States is expected to run a deficit over $700 billion. The deficit with China alone will approach $200 billion this year.

"Many of our trading partners succeed because they use forced labor, child labor, sweatshop labor. They don't have the environmental protections and health regulations we enjoy in the United States. China and Japan manipulate currency to their advantage. They simply don't play fair and the United States loses.

"You'd think USTR and the administration would be taking a tough stand against these abuses, but they've said little and done less over the past five years. So what are they doing? Proceeding with business as usual.

"I would like to caution my colleagues. Just because USTR is giving more face time these days, doesn't mean they are listening. Many Members of Congress support stronger labor and environmental standards for trade agreements. They were in the core text of the Jordan Free Trade Agreement. But I don't see them here today.

"The template is always the same, the Bush administration hasn't changed a thing. Every free trade agreement we've voted on since Jordan has been a step back, and there is no indication the administration will move forward. So don't be fooled by smiling faces and hollow pledges.

"Until the text of these agreements contain the same protections for labor and the environment as are granted to multi-national corporations and the pharmaceutical industry we should stand against them."

http://www.house.gov/sherrodbrown/releases/Bahrain.htm