Reforming Our Trade Agreements

NAFTA-based Free Trade Agreements

Jeff opposes the Peru Free Trade Agreement, and other trade agreements that use NAFTA as a model for those very reasons.

Imagine for a moment just what would happen if any state in this country suddenly threw out all labor standards – the minimum wage, the right to organize workers, the 40-hour work week. And imagine what would happen if the EPA allowed them to ignore all environmental laws – if they could dump waste anywhere they wanted, if they could pollute the air with greenhouse gasses at unchecked levels. Every factory owner in the country would move their operations there, leaving workers in the rest of the states without a good paying job and without a way to provide for their families. In our global economy, moving jobs off shore is just as easy as moving them to another state. We can’t let that happen.

Fast Track Authority

We also can’t trust that once George Bush is out of office that the next Republican president – whoever or whenever it may be – will insist on enforceable standards when negotiating agreements. So we absolutely MUST resist any attempt to give this and future Presidents fast track trade authority without Congressional oversight.

Trade Adjustment Assistance

We live in a global economy, and we can’t ignore that fact. If we recognize that we can’t turn back the clock and stop globalization, we can set our sights on reasonable goals like doing more to assist workers and communities get the training and education they need to compete in our new global economy.

Offshore Tax Shelters

We can take steps here at home to make sure all corporations are pitching in with their fair share by reforming the tax code to stop companies from setting up tax shelters in Bermuda in order to avoid paying their fair share in taxes. Gordon Smith continually supports allowing companies to shelter their assets in offshore accounts, rather than making them pay their fair share like the rest of us do.

Read Jeff Merkley's Plan To Create Family Wage Jobs: End Outsourcing, Buy American here

Posted November 13, 2007
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