Increasingly, the debate over global trade agreements is
looking like the white-hot furor surrounding social issues
such as gay marriage and abortion.
At one time, there seemed to be a general consensus in this
country that open markets helped make the world more
productive and more prosperous for everyone. And many people
today hold that view passionately.
However, as events this week make clear, many Mainers -
probably the majority, if my gut sense of things is correct -
believe with equal passion that trade agreements are doing
more harm than good.
Congress has begun to consider a trade pact - the Central
American Free Trade Agreement - that would lower trade
barriers between the United States and Costa Rica, the
Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and
Nicaragua. And members of President Bush's administration are
lobbying hard for it.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez made the
case for the agreement earlier this week in a telephone
interview, requested by his office.
He called CAFTA crucial to the U.S. economy, at a time when
other parts of the world are banding together to form trade
blocks. He said it enhances our security by encouraging free
markets and democracy throughout our hemisphere.
And it reduces barriers that, today, are far higher on our
goods than the ones imported into the United States.
"That's why we want to go on the offensive and open up
these markets," Gutierrez said. "Our markets are already open
to them."
Open trade makes everyone more prosperous, he said, though
he recognizes that there is some dislocation of workers in
less-competitive industries. He called CAFTA a
"state-of-the-art" trade agreement with strong provisions to
ensure that all parties maintain high labor and environmental
standards.
His argument doesn't convince Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine.
She joined one other Republican this week in a committee vote
against the pact. (It won committee approval on an 11-9 vote,
but still faces an uncertain future as it continues to move
through Congress.)
Snowe said previous trade agreements such as the North
American Free Trade Agreement have caused a "breathtaking"
number of U.S. job losses.
Also this week, the Citizen Trade Policy Commission issued
a statement opposing the pact. The Maine Legislature created
that group, which consists of 17 members appointed by the
governor and legislative leaders and five nonvoting members
from state agencies.
In its public hearings, about 60 speakers opposed CAFTA for
every individual who supported it.
"Our jobs and our clothing and our textiles and everything,
the prices are staying low, but there's a direct cost to
that," said Rep. John Patrick, D-Rumford, a co-chairman of the
commission.
"It's awful amazing how the shoe industry and the clothing
industry has left the United States, and if you buy a pair of
Nike shoes for $120, (they were) made for $2 in some Third
World country," he said. "I think it's more a case of
corporate greed than anything else."
Concerns like that have caused the increased passion - and
uncertainty - around trade agreements that used to be seen as
a dry topic with a lot of built-in legislative support.
Business Editor Eric Blom can be contacted at 791-6460 or
at:
eblom@pressherald.com
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