U.S. Trade Policy Makes Dramatic Change in Course

Press Release

U.S. Trade Policy Makes Dramatic Change in Course

Worker Rights and Environmental Standards in a Trade Agreement for First Time

(Washington D.C.)- The U.S. House of Representatives approved 285-132 a bi-lateral trade agreement with Peru that includes for the first time worker rights and environmental standards fully enforceable like all other commercial provisions.

"From this day forward trade policy will never be the same. We have succeeded in placing fully enforceable worker rights and environmental standards on par with all other commercial provisions in a trade agreement for the first time," said Rep. Sander Levin. "With this dramatic change we are setting U.S. trade policy on a completely new course."

The U.S.-Peru FTA was renegotiated once Democrats became the Majority in Congress to incorporate international labor standards in the trade agreement, enforceable like all other provisions. The standards come right from the International Labor Organization's 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and include the freedom of association and the right to organize and bargain collectively, and prohibitions on child labor, forced labor, and discrimination in employment.

Also, at the insistence of the Democratic Majority, the Government of Peru has already made changes to their legal structure to incorporate the basic international standards before the vote in Congress.

Also, for the first time in a bilateral trade agreement there is a requirement for both countries to abide -- with enforceability like all other provisions -- by international environmental standards (Multilateral Environmental Agreements or MEAs). And the Peru FTA has a groundbreaking provision to prevent importation into the U.S. of logs illegally harvested -- preventing competition based on a degradation of the Amazon.

"We have been fighting for a trade policy that shapes globalization to minimize its downsides and spread its benefits more broadly," said Rep. Sander Levin. "Workers with their basic international rights are essential to this equation, and today we have succeeded in setting U.S. trade policy on a bi-partisan course that shares that belief."

Source