FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, December 18, 2003

CONTACT:
Jenni Engebretsen
803-255-8560

EDWARDS SAYS CAFTA IS A BAD DEAL FOR AMERICAN WORKERS

John Edwards today pledged to work to defeat the trade deal President Bush negotiated with four Central American countries. 

"This trade deal is just a bad deal for American workers. We've already lost more than 3 million private sector jobs under President Bush, and if this trade deal passes, we will lose even more. 

"This deal lacks strong protections for workers' rights.  It gives foreign investors special rights to challenge U.S. environmental laws, and it puts the profits of drug companies ahead of access to life-saving AIDS drugs in these poor countries. 

"This is a bad trade policy that hurts textile workers in the Carolinas and all across America. Congress should reject this deal, and I will work to make sure it does." 

###

Paid for by Edwards for President, Inc.  Contributions to Edwards for President are not tax-deductible for federal income tax purposes.  

 

News from U.S. Rep. John Spratt (D-SC)

Assistant to the Democratic Leader

Ranking Member, Committee on the Budget

US House of Representatives – Washington, DC

www.house.gov/spratt  |  www.house.gov/budget_democrats

Friday, December 19, 2003 – For Immediate Release
Contact: Chuck Fant, 202-225-5501

 

Spratt Opposes CAFTA

 

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. John Spratt (D-SC) declared today his strong opposition to the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).  On December 17, the Bush Administration announced that it had reached the agreement with Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.

 

“This year, South Carolina lost 6.6% of its manufacturing jobs, more than any other state in the nation,” Spratt said.  “Recent trade agreements have resulted in far more imports than exports, and cost our country jobs. I am opposed to any more trade agreements that result in job losses, and I think most of my Democratic colleagues and some of my Republican colleagues will agree – maybe enough to defeat CAFTA.”

 

Spratt, who co-chairs the Congressional Textile Caucus, said there are a number of provisions in CAFTA that will have a negative impact on the domestic textile industry:

 

  1. The single transformation policy will allow boxer shorts, bras, and pajamas assembled in Central America and made with components from any country in the world duty-free access to the United States.

    Spratt said:  “Import quotas have just been imposed to protect items like these from a flood of imports coming out of China. This opens the door to transshipment and allows China and other countries to do an end run around quotas and tariffs.”

     
  2. The “cumulation” policy will allow Central American countries to use components from Mexico and Canada and ship the goods into the United States duty-free. The Bush Administration has left open the option of expanding the policy to other free trade partners.

    Spratt says, “If we expand this policy to other free trade partners, we run the risk of shutting out U.S.-made components altogether.”

     
  3. Tariff Preference Levels were extended to Nicaragua allowing 100 million square meters to receive duty-free treatment without having to use U.S. or regional components.

    Spratt said: “Tariff Preference Levels do not help our industry. Whenever we allow a trade partner to buy components from China or India and export the finished product into the U.S. duty-free, we are denying our own textile workers the chance to make the components.”

     
  4. In all of the CAFTA countries, there are documented deficiencies in compliance with core labor standards, such as child labor, minimum wage, maximum hours, the right to organize and bargain collectively, discrimination, and forced labor.

    Spratt said, “The Administration has been warned that many members who otherwise support free trade want worker and environmental protection to be written into trade agreements.  CAFTA flouts their concerns and falls way short on worker and environmental standards.

 

“CAFTA fails on many counts,” Spratt said. “I will not only vote against it, but work against it when it comes before Congress.”

 

# # #