FEINGOLD
BACKS BILL TO IMPROVE U.S. TRADE POLICIES, RENEGOTIATE FAILED DEALS
Feingold Cosponsors TRADE Act to Put the Interests of American Business,
Workers, and Consumers Above Multi-National Corporate Interests
June 10, 2008
Washington, D.C. –
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold is a lead supporter of a new effort to guide
future U.S. trade agreements to ensure a level playing field for American
businesses, workers, and consumers. Feingold is an original cosponsor
of the Trade Reform, Accountability, Development, and Employment (TRADE)
Act of 2008 introduced by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH). The TRADE Act
requires a review of existing trade agreements, and a renegotiation
of existing trade agreements based on that review. It sets terms of
what must and must not be included in future trade agreements, and expresses
support for strengthening the role of Congress in trade policymaking.
The framework created by the TRADE Act includes improved labor, environmental,
food and product safety standards complete with enforcement mechanisms
and penalties for failing to meet those standards.
“The trade policies
agreed to over the past fifteen years are a major contributor to the
tough economic times many folks in Wisconsin are facing,” Feingold
said. “I have opposed agreements like NAFTA, CAFTA and others
that create a race to the bottom by failing to require fair labor, environmental,
safety and other standards of the countries we do business with. Tens
of thousands of good jobs have left Wisconsin for China, Mexico and
elsewhere and have been replaced with lower quality, lower paying jobs
without the benefits Wisconsinites need for their families. It’s
time that our trade agreements look out for American businesses, workers,
consumers, family farmers and the environment rather than multi-national
corporate interests.”
Feingold has a long history
of standing up for American workers by opposing unfair trade agreements
like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Central American
Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), and Permanent Normalized Trade Relations
(PNTR) with China. Feingold has been a strong supporter of minimum standards
for trade to ensure that trade agreements contain enforceable worker
and environmental protections, that foreign investors are not granted
greater rights than U.S. investors, that these agreements do not undermine
our domestic food safety standards, and that the ability of federal,
state, and local governments to regulate private sector services in
the public interest is preserved.
“I support trade in
the growing global marketplace and opening up new markets for American
products,” Feingold said. “But we can do it in a way that
avoids the problems we have seen with NAFTA and other agreements that
have taken their toll on American businesses and workers. This framework
for a new direction of U.S. trade policies will strengthen economic
security, maintain family-supporting jobs in the U.S., and encourage
sustainable development in underdeveloped countries that are our trading
partners.”
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