COMMENTARY
Free trade would cost too much
By Peler Del a/io
Two now international I redo
agreements now in the
works could hasten the
flight of manufacturing |obs
from the United States, depress
an already declining American
standard of living and weaken
our nation’s environmental ami
product safety standards
Most economists agree that
the North American Free Trade
Agreement will, at the least,
cause significant job losses In
the United States. One recent
study estimates that as many as
500,000 U S. manufacturing
jobs will la; lost within seven
years of the pact's approval
The supporters of NAFTA
would have us believe that by
exporting hundreds of thou
sands of U S. manufacturing
jobs to Mexico, we will raise
Mexican living standards
enough that Mexican consum
ers will he able to buy more
U.S.-made products
The North American con
sumer will buy automobiles
made in Ford and General Mo
tors factories in Mexico, the
newly prosperous Mexican
consumer will buy potato chips
made in Idaho, or silicon chips
made m California. Somehow,
everybody will benefit, or so
the line of thinking goes.
It’s n mighty flimsy argument
for such a high-stakes gamble
with our domestic economy.
Let’s bring the discussion
home to Origon In I'tHH. the
Caterpillar Co. mover! its Dallas
forklift manufacturing plant to
a Mexican free trade zone cre
ated under the "maquiladora"
system. Four hundred Oregon
workers lost these family-wage
jobs and Polk County lost part
of its tax base
The Pendleton Woolen Mills,
an Oregon-based clothing man
ufacturer that stubbornly con
tinues to manufacture its prod
ucts in the United Slates, re
cently announced it will pro
duce u test run of blouses in
Mexico, perhaps anticipating
the passage of NAFTA The
company currently employs
about (>00 trtiinufm turing work
ers in Oregon and southwest
Washington, m.mv of whom
could lose their jobs if Pendle
ton is compelled to lake advan
tage of Mexico's relatively
cheap labor and lax environ
mental standards
But NAFTA will do more
than cause U.S. job losses It
will further drug down U S
wages and living standards as
our workers are forced to com
pete more directly with Mexi
can workers, who earn 50 cents
to 90 cents an hour. The upshot
is that we will not only export
U.S jobs to Mexico, but wo
will increasingly import Mexi
can economic and environmen
tal conditions into the United
Stales.
In the Roagan-Hush version
of "free trade" the lowest com
mon denominator prevails,
whether it is workplace safely
standards, environmental regu
lations or wages Tins kind of
free trade poses u serious threat
to our standard of living No
where is that threat more ap
parent than in the udmi^yy^
lion's efforts to negotiate a new
world trade agreement, one
known as the General Agree
ment on Tariffs and Trade.
The new GATT agreement
would create something called
the "Multilateral Trade Organi
zation." The MTO would have
binding power to resolve inter
national disputes over what are
euphemistically called "techni
cal barriers" to trade. Such har
riers could, and almost certain
ly would, include U.S. environ
mental laws and consumer
product safely standards.
For example, Mexico recent
ly and successfully sued the
United States under GATT
complaining that the U.S. Ma
rine Mammal Protection Act.
which bars tuna imports from
nations whoso fishing practice*
kill large numbers of dolphins,
poses an unfair barrier to trade
Rut under existing GATT rules,
the United States can block the
decision when it determines it
to be in error
Under the new ('.ATT, an ad
verso ruling in such a case
would allow the GATT Council
to mobilize and apply extraor
dinary pressure against the
United States, forcing Congress
to nullify the offending law
Since tile lug winners under
GATT and NAKFA will Ini the
world's largest corporations,
these new international trade
agreements amount to little
more than trickle-down eco
nomics translated into trade
policy The administration's ar
gumcnl seems to lx? that if we
enrich the multinational corpo
rations, then somehow, some
dav. the benefits will filler
down to ihe rest of us I reject
that view, as I will reject both
of these new agreements
We can't turn our backs on
the rapid growth of an interna
lional economy or the increas
ing important e of trade to Ihe
United Slates But we must do
far nunc to protor i mu people's
interests', not to mention our
nation's independence, in anv
new trade agreements
The Bush administration's
trade policy seems to he head
ed toward a new world order
dialicaled solely to the curpo
rote bottom line As an aileron
live. I propose an approach
grounded in a concern for de
cent wages, safe working condi
tions and a healthy environ
ment in every trading notion
The benefits of free and fair
trade shouldn't tie limited to
the stockholders ol Daimler
Ben/.. Mitsubishi or CM
I’etrr l)vl-cU.iu represents (fre
gon in the U S tUmse of Rcpm
se/itatnes
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