AFL-CIO Executive Council: Trade Policies, Economic Downturn Go Hand in Hand

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/03/04/afl-cio-executive-council-trade-policies-economic-downturn-go-hand-in-hand/

by James Parks, Mar 4, 2008

With the U.S. economy in a downhill slide, our flawed trade policies must be reformed to put good jobs at the center of a coherent global economic strategy. Meeting in San Diego, the AFL-CIO Executive Council said in a statement today that our struggle to compete successfully in the global economy is connected with the many other challenges facing the U.S. economy and working families.

The Executive Council, which is meeting March 4-6, approved two statements on trade today, “What Is Wrong With U.S. Trade Policy?” and “No Free Trade With Colombia Until Workers’ Rights Are Respected.”

As the council points out, our trade and tax policies have encouraged employers to shift jobs overseas, and the resulting trade deficit has cost even more jobs here at home, decimating our manufacturing industries and eroding real wages.

The Executive Council also warned that the huge trade deficit threatens our national security by making our nation increasingly dependent on foreign governments—which may or may not share our objectives—to fund our mounting debt. It also provides capital for countries such as China, with whom we have a record deficit, to invest in Wall Street and possibly use that influence to thwart efforts to respond to its unfair and predatory trade practices.

At the same time, the Bush administration’s rush to dismantle government regulations has left our nation vulnerable to unsafe imported food and other products.

Key to the trade problem is the assault on unions and workers’ rights here in the United States, which is closely connected with similar assaults worldwide.

FULL story at link.