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 DEVELOP & PRINT • 3” PRINTS S 24*5*7 36*597 2ndl|S0 ■ exp 0 exp 90 set ■ | coupon must accompany order. ■ CAMPUS 1 HR PHOTO 1231 ALDER • 683-4693 COSTS ARE UP! I cl I Mar biological Plasma Honor Ccnlcr help unh your luilion My ilonalinj; plasma, you earn $20"“ lot your lirsi donation. over SI 20 |vr monili. anil help save a hie ai the same lime Open Mornlay-Suiurday ('illl 6H3-9430 lor more information. 1 ‘HH W Sih Avc. laigcnc By GARY LARSON The woods were dark and foreboding, and Alice sensed (hat sinister eyes were watching her every step. 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