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Cafta expected to be signed today { May 28 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/05/28/BUGNT6TB8F1.DTL&type=businesshttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/05/28/BUGNT6TB8F1.DTL&type=business
Trade pact signing today
Central America agreement covers U.S., 5 nations
- Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, May 28, 2004
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick is expected to sign the Central America Free Trade Agreement today, the latest in a series of treaties backed by both the Clinton and Bush administrations designed to remove barriers to the flow of goods and services.
In the United States, the free-trade issue has sparked debate about whether such policies promote economic growth or cost jobs. In developing nations, critics say that removing barriers to U.S. goods, particularly agricultural products, undermines local producers.
Zoellick will join representatives from five Central American countries - - Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Costa Rica -- at a signing ceremony in Washington. The Dominican Republic is expected to join the accord shortly, according to a spokesperson in the trade representative's office.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has opposed the treaty in its current form. Zoellick told reporters Thursday that the administration plans to delay a ratification vote until after the election.
Already the treaty faces opposition that runs the gamut from American sugar farmers, who object to the entry of product from Central America, to AFL- CIO President John Sweeney, who has called it "yet another job-destroying free trade agreement that will undermine workers' rights here and around the world. ''
At a small noontime rally at the Federal Building in San Francisco, protesters representing labor and environmental groups said CAFTA, which is modeled on the North American Free Trade Agreement among the United States, Mexico and Canada, would accelerate the exodus of U.S. jobs to developing countries.
The protesters cited an analysis done by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, which estimated that NAFTA cost the United States several hundred thousand jobs between 1993 and 2000, including 83,000 in California.
"We in this area have been devastated by the loss of textile jobs,'' said Alan Benjamin, representing the San Francisco Labor Council.
But trade representative spokesman Robert Mills said the U.S. economy grew substantially during those years, bolstering the contention that removing barriers to free trade was a plus for the economy.
"Trade is not a pie that keeps getting divided up,'' Mills said. "You grow and grow, and both sides benefit.''
According to the trade representative's office, the United States shipped about $11 billion in goods to the five CAFTA nations in 2003, making it a larger export market than Russia, India and Indonesia combined. About $12 billion in goods flowed the other way.
Mills said CAFTA should benefit U.S. exporters because more than three- quarters of Central American exports covered under the agreement already enter this county duty free and the accord returns that favor to U.S. goods destined for the signatory nations.
"Expanding markets though free-trade agreements is in the Bay Area's interests,'' said Sean Randolph, president of the Bay Area Economic Forum. "We export more than anywhere else in California, and California exports more than anywhere else in the nation.''
But certain provisions of CAFTA, notably the opening of U.S. markets to Central American sugar, have provoked a rebellion even from normally pro-trade- agreement Republican lawmakers. Trade office officials said giving ground to the Central American nations on sugar allowed the U.S. negotiators to win access for American-grown beef, pork and poultry.
In addition to winning Senate ratification, CAFTA would have to be approved by the House of Representatives because it contains provisions that affect revenue. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, issued a statement at Thursday's rally in San Francisco calling provisions designed to protect Central American workers "totally unacceptable.''
"The Bush administration lost a major opportunity by negotiating an agreement that both Democrats and Republicans are avoiding,'' Pelosi's statement said.
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U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement
What it does: The treaty removes tariffs on most goods traded between the United States and five Central American nations, including farm products and textiles.
What countries are involved: Signatories are the United States, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The Dominican Republic is expected to join later.
What happens next: The Senate and House of Representatives must both approve the treaty before it can take effect. The measure won't be considered until after the November elections.
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