Inside US Trade
January 28, 2000
Dear Representative:
As globalization increasingly touches the lives of American families, trade agreements can no longer be treated as the sole province of business. The AFL-CIO fervently believes that the rules of the global economy -- rules such as those set in the trade agreement between the United States and China in regard to its accession to the World Trade Organization -- must take into account all of society. Human values, not just business values, must inform these trade agreements.
The Administration has made a grave miscalculation of the costs and benefits of bringing China into the WTO under the terms of the recently negotiated agreement. The American people support trade but strongly believe that trade agreements must protect workers' rights, human rights and environmental protections. The proposed U.S. agreement with China does not reflect those values.
The AFL-CIO, on behalf of 13 million workers and their families, strongly urges you to vote against legislation granting permanent normal trade relations status to China. Recognizing that the Congress will not have the opportunity to vote on China's accession to the WTO nor on the specific terms of the accession agreement with China, we believe that Congress should not give up its ability to review China's trade compliance, its observance of workers' rights and human rights, and its progress on environmental issues.
In Seattle, many voices joined to express broad concerns about how globalization affects everyday lives. These urgently felt concerns cannot be ignored. Workers in this country and around the world need rules that protect them from exploitation. Developing countries need both the resources and the technical assistance to free themselves from crippling debt burdens, to engage in trade negotiations on an equal footing, and to implement and enforce adequate labor and environmental standards. Protection of the environment must not take a back seat to trade liberalization.
Congress has a responsibility to do its part to assure that globalization and the international institutions that guide it are responsive to these concerns.
Extending permanent NTR to China does not address these concerns. Congress must demand a broader, more responsive global policy from this Administration by rejecting permanent NTR for China.
China has demonstrated that it is not ready for membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Chinese government repeatedly and flagrantly violates international norms on fundamental human rights, including freedom of association, freedom of speech, and religious freedom. Independent trade union activity is brutally repressed, and today, many labor activists are serving lengthy terms in hard-labor camps for their efforts to give voice to workers' concerns. Once China gets full privileges in the WTO, which has no rules or minimum standards regarding compliance with core labor standards, the United States will lose its economic leverage on these issues.
Of key importance in terms of the United States' commercial relationship with China, China has shown little regard for trade agreements it has signed, or even for the terms of WTO accession agreed to last November. According to the U.S. Trade Representative's own annual reports, China has violated the terms of all four bilateral trade agreements it has signed with the United States since 1992 -- on market opening, prison labor, intellectual property rights, and textiles. The burgeoning U.S. trade deficit with China -- approaching $70 billion in 1999 -- vividly illustrates the outcome of China's stubborn refusal to play by the rules it has agreed to in principle.
To suggest that China's entry into the WTO will bring it under the rule of law is simply wishful thinking. Chinese government officials have repeatedly stated that they have no intention of complying with the spirit or the letter of the bilateral WTO accession agreement in a number of areas, including insurance, telecommunications, grain, beef, and petroleum. The WTO itself is not coping well with rapidly changing world economic conditions and relationships. WTO dispute settlement provisions are not designed to confront massive non-compliance. China's membership in the WTO could actually undermine other countries' compliance with WTO rules and weaken the WTO itself if China's flouting of the rules goes unchecked.
Given China's dismal record of human and workers' rights violations and non-compliance with market-opening agreements, the prudent course of action is to withhold permanent NTR until the Chinese government has demonstrated that it is ready and able to comply with international standards in these areas.
The United States' leadership in defining new rules for the global economy is of great importance to working families. I urge you to vote against legislation granting permanent NTR to China.
Sincerely,
John J. Sweeney, President
source: Inside US Trade / date: February 4, 2000 / issue: Vol. 18, No. 5
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