IUE-CWA Criticizes South Korea Trade Agreement
Washington, D.C.
IUE-CWA joined the growing chorus of opposition to the just-completed South Korea-U.S. trade deal (KORUS), which would end tariffs and other barriers between the United States and Korea, the world's 10th-largest economy.
Negotiators worked down to the wire to seal the deal before the end of April 1 so it could meet a 90-day required notice period for Congress.
By meeting the deadline, the Bush White House can have the deal considered under fast track trade promotion authority, which expires June 30.
"KORUS fails in every way possible," said IUE-CWA President Jim Clark. "It will lead to more job losses and should KORUS pass, I would expect to see more job losses for members of Congress who support it."
Organized labor is criticizing the deal, which would be the largest trade deal since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, for lacking enforceable protections for core workers' rights. Congressional Democrats were working with Bush trade representatives to strengthen labor rights provisions, but the office of the United States Trade Representative used the old, failed language of "enforce your own labor standards" yet again.
"USTR has just exhibited bad-faith bargaining at its worst," Clark stated. "The only recourse for Congress is to vote against KORUS and send the Bush administration a clear message that the days of rubber-stamp approval and lax congressional oversight were victims of the 2006 elections."
Critical lawmakers were led by Sen. Debbie Stabenow and House Trade Subcommittee Chairman Sander Levin (both D-Mich.). They said the pact would do little to open Korea's auto market, while leaving the U.S. market wide open to Korean cars and trucks.
In 2005, the last year for which data is available, the U.S. imported 731,000 Korean vehicles and exported 5,800, due to Korean tariffs and internal barriers.
The United States has a $14 billion trade deficit with South Korea. Some $12 billion of that amount is from a deficit in the auto and auto parts sectors.
News reports also have raised concerns that the pact would let in goods from the North Korean border city of Kaesong, an industrial zone whose workers toil as "indentured servants" to export products to South Korea.
KORUS will "undermine both governments' ability to provide affordable and high-quality public and social services, and to protect food safety, the environment and public health," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said.
Like the other pacts bargained under "fast track," including pending trade pacts with Colombia, Peru and Panama, both houses of Congress do not vote on the U.S.-Korea pact itself, but on legislation to implement it.
Those votes are up-or-down with no possibility for amendments that protect workers' rights, or anything else. Bush is pushing hard to renew fast track, but Democratic members of Congress are already questioning the wisdom of the country's trade policy and are vocally calling for more input.
In other trade news, a bipartisan coalition of House members has introduced the Fair Currency Act of 2007.
The bill would hold the Chinese government accountable for currency manipulation. Currently, U.S. producers are harmed by exchange-rate manipulation that artificially depresses prices for Chinese products.
The U.S. trade deficit with China hit a new record in 2006 -- $233 billion, or a 15 percent increase over the 2005 deficit.
"As the trade deficit grows, good American jobs continue to be lost," said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Rich Trumka. "An exchange rate misalignment between the U.S. dollar, Chinese yuan and other major trading partners is considered by many to be a prime reason for the current trade deficit."
Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), a sponsor of the act, said that aligning the yuan and dollar would keep $500 billion in American investment from going to China, which would translate into saving 5 million jobs.
"We're not protectionist," said Ryan. "We're asking China to abide by the trade terms they agreed to when they joined the World Trade Organization."
