The “New Trade Policy” compromise announced yesterday by House Democratic leaders, House Republicans, and the Bush administration will become a simple sell-out of U.S. producer and worker interests if not quickly accompanied by more fundamental changes in America’s global trade strategy, the U.S. Business and Industry Council (USBIC) charged today.

According to USBIC President Kevin L. Kearns, “Trying to raise world labor and environmental standards through trade policy is a worthy goal. Unfortunately, given the number of third world trading partners and the size of their combined populations, the measures proposed in the New Trade Policy are completely unenforceable. To date the United States has not been able to enforce current trade agreements with provisions on, for example, subsidies or theft of intellectual property. Why would anyone expect a better track record on labor and environmental provisions simply because they too become part of trade agreements? More fundamental changes to trade policy are necessary to accomplish our goals of restoring a healthy manufacturing and technology base, as well as a rising standard of living for all Americans.”

Click here to read the article...

---