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Published - Thursday, June 23, 2005

Column: CAFTA repeats past mistakes

By Andy Gussert
Over a year ago, President Bush unilaterally approved the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the largest trade agreement before our nation in a decade.

It took 12 months, but during the second week of June, CAFTA was finally pushed thru the Senate Finance Committee by one vote. It squeaked thru the House Ways & Means Committee by five votes, 25 to 16. Some Republicans voted against it, and a few Democrats voted in favor. Everybody voting agreed the trade issue is a real problem.

Politicians know an issue is problematic when people start making up new words. Offshoring used to be something you would do for vacation. Outsourcing used to be sending a print job down the street to Kinko's. Now they are crucial campaign buzzwords for the 2006 cycle, defining what may be the biggest issue in the next election.

But outside all of the rhetoric, is there a real solution to outsourcing, offshoring and the loss of jobs overseas?

Ben Franklin said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. One immediate response to slow outsourcing and job loss would be to stop passing the same trade agreements over and over. Unless we stop this flawed approach of NAFTA and CAFTA, we will continue to outsource more Wisconsin jobs, offshore more Wisconsin business, jeopardize family farmers, harm women, hurt children and destroy our environment.

Just look at the numbers. Past unfair agreements helped send 2.5 million manufacturing jobs beyond our borders. States like Wisconsin were hit particularly hard: From March 2001 to January 2004 we lost more than 74,000 manufacturing jobs, a decline of 14 percent in our manufacturing base.

Unemployed factory workers were retrained in internet technology or software design, only to find those jobs the next wave of work exported and offshored. This cycle has become an economic revolving door of outsourcing, with each new sector taking on additional casualties.

By the end of 2005, it is projected that more than 830,000 American tech jobs will have moved to low-wage countries including India and China.
Once thought to impact only industrial sectors, outsourcing now threatens computer engineers, IT specialists, call-center workers, paralegals, technical writers, accountants, tax professionals and public service workers. Put simply, if your job uses a phone, a computer or a welding torch, outsourcing trade policies have an impact on you. If you can telecommute, your job can likely be outsourced.

That's why most Wisconsin federal officials have already voted against unfair trade agreements during the past two years. Eight of ten delegation members recently opposed the Australian agreement that would define powdered milk outside of dairy products, allowing Aussies to flood U.S. markets. Republican Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner voted "no" on granting most favored nation status to China in 2000, "no" on the Australia agreement, and in favor of withdrawing from the World Trade Organization. Congressman Ron Kind n a supporter of past trade agreements n recently led a press conference of centrist Democrats to oppose CAFTA.

"More people are out of work, jobs are being outsourced, companies are being offshored, and farmers are out of business," says Doug Drake, Wisconsin director of the United Steelworkers. "These agreements just don't make sense."

Sue Beitlich, president of the Wisconsin Farmers Union, argues the struggle to stop CAFTA has become a referendum on the 10-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which has failed to deliver on promises made by politicians more than a decade ago. "CAFTA is a continuation of failed trade policies. We were a net exporter of agricultural products before NAFTA's passage 10 years ago; today we are a net importer. It clearly demonstrates that U.S. farmers and ranchers are not benefiting from free trade agreements."

Brett Hulsey, Sierra Club Senior Midwest representative, fought to stop NAFTA when it was first introduced in 1994. Since then, he's seen lost jobs, lower environmental standards, and the dumbing down of trade laws. "CAFTA's environmental provisions are weak, unenforceable, and full of loopholes," said Hulsey. "It doesn't require competing countries to adopt or maintain a clear set of basic environmental laws, giving them a clear advantage in trade agreements."

It is time to change the way we negotiate trade agreements, instead of repeating our mistakes and expecting to get different results. There is an intelligent response: Stop the insanity. It's time to take a new approach to trade agreements, and defeat CAFTA.

You can contact your member of congress toll free at 866-340-9281 to offer your views.


Andy Gussert, Clintonville, is director of the Wisconsin Fair Trade Coalition.