Statement on Chile/Singapore trade treaty votes

By U.S. Congressman Brian Baird
Last year, I worked arm in arm with our local Raspberry growers as they struggled to save their farms in the face of unfairly dumped Chilean berries. We were successful in that effort and as a result we can all still enjoy safe, quality fruits grown by local Washington growers as they have been for generations.

But this week in Congress, we faced legislation to approve a trade bill negotiated by the Bush administration with very little input from the people=s representatives. Two bills established new trade agreements, one with Chile, the other with Singapore. I voted against the first and for the second. This is why.

Washington and Oregon lead the nation in unemployment. In Southwest Washington, Clark County unemployment is near 10%, Cowlitz County unemployment is near 11%. Nationwide, three million jobs have been lost in the last two years. Beyond raspberries, Chilean imports of pen reared salmon, timber products, apples and other products have all posed threats to U.S. goods and the workers who produce them. Those who support liberalized trade argue that this agreement will open the Chilean market to U.S. products. That=s a fine thing, but the problem we face today isn=t getting our local products into Chilean stores, it is getting U.S. products like Raspberries into U.S. stores. Because of imports, often subsidized, and almost surely grown under less careful environmental conditions and harvested by workers paid only fractions of U.S. wages, our small family farmers, our fishermen, and our manufacturers are increasingly told their products will not be purchased or sold by local stores. And if they are purchased, it will be for prices below our local production costs. That is why I opposed the Chilean free trade agreement. We simply cannot afford to lose more jobs and more family farms.

The agreement with Singapore was far from perfect, for reasons I will describe shortly, but it is important to recognize that Boeing, Microsoft, and other major Washington employers sell billions of dollars of U.S. made goods to Singapore. And Singapore, which is almost completely urban, does not produce agriculture products which compete with our local growers. Importantly, Singapore has one of the highest standards of living, and costs of manufacturing, in Asia. U.S. manufactures do not have to lower the wages of American workers to compete with Singaporean imports. For these reasons, supporting the Singapore trade agreement made more sense to me.

Let me add, however, that the manner in which these agreement were negotiated, and some of their key elements, are seriously flawed and must not become the model for future agreements, particularly for the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas or the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Both the Chile and Singapore agreements state only that each of the signatory nations must enforce their own labor and environmental standards. Because these two countries have relatively strong labor and environmental laws, this is not an unreasonable position. But those laws could easily change. And more importantly, the U.S. Trade Representative has indicated his inclination to include similar language in trade agreements with nations with far less responsible laws. This would create and unlevel and unfair playing field in which our workers and our local small businesses would be forced to compete against workers who are forced to work in unsafe conditions, for minimal pay and without even basic rights.

The Singapore and Chile agreements also set a potentially dangerous precedent constitutionally by including certain immigration provisions not established by Congress. Immigration laws are constitutionally preserved to the Congress and should not be taken over by the Administration as part of trade negotiations. What is more, any immigration changes in trade laws must not allow for an influx of foreign workers with unlimited stays and with no requirements that the U.S. employer first seek U.S. workers who can fill the positions. Especially in our hard hit high tech and communication sectors, there are thousands of displaced workers who are seeking jobs and the only reason a company would have to bring in large numbers of foreign workers would be to force down wages and benefits, not to fill essential posts that have no U.S. workers available.

In closing, my highest priority in Congress is to provide family-wage jobs to Southwest Washington. Our state is, per capita, the most trade dependent state in the nation. In general, creating new markets for Washington=s products and services generates jobs and economic growth. However, we must not forget, the dumping of Chilean Raspberries and Salmon has adversely impacted a number of communities in our district, and across our nation. I am committed to expanding trade, but in a manner which prevents illegal dumping, supports Southwest Washington jobs and businesses, and stimulates economic growth in the Pacific Northwest.


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