Bush Administration’s “Free Trade” Policies Lead to Trade Deficit, Job Loss
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By Thea Lee
“Free trade” has been sold to the U.S. public and workers as a cure for all that ails us. Proponents of so-called free trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the granting of permanent normal trade relations to China have claimed that these agreements would create high-paying, export-related jobs here in the United States, bring prosperity to developing countries, and spur economic growth and political stability worldwide. The outcome has been quite different.
Since NAFTA, the United States has lost over 3 million jobs, according to estimates by the Economic Policy Institute based on calculating the employment impact of changes in the U.S. trade balance. Moreover, most new jobs are in the low-paying service sector, particularly in temp and retail. Meanwhile, “free trade” has brought mixed results to many developing countries–often spurring growth in investment and trade flows but failing to improve wages and working conditions for the typical worker or small farmer.
The Bush administration has the worst job creation record since Herbert Hoover. Unfortunately, we see little evidence that this administration has learned from the mistakes of past failed trade policies. Instead, it has prioritized corporate investment rules at the expense of workers' rights and is determined to replicate these mistakes in the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and the bilateral and regional agreements presently being negotiated. If we do not dramatically reform these failed trade policies, soon many more Americans will be counted among the unemployed and the “working poor.”
Thea M. Lee is an adviser to and former board member of the Interhemispheric Resource Center (IRC, online at www.irc-online.org). Lee is the Chief International Economist for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).
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http://www.americaspolicy.org/briefs/2004/0402freetrade.html
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@ March 31, 2004