Alliance for Responsible Trade

Not the Way Forward on Trade

Advocates for better trade policy cry foul as the Democratic Leadership Announces a Secret Deal with Bush

For immediate release: May 15, 2007

A new direction in trade doesn't start in the back room. This is the sentiment being shared among many as Democratic leaders today announced a secret "agreement" to put through several Bush negotiated trade agreements. Faith communities, health advocates, labor groups, environmentalists, and human rights activists are demanding a much more substantive change in direction from Democrats and an end to back-rooms deals.

On a day when advocates and most democrats were cut out of the secret negotiations, many called the process undemocratic and flawed and wondered how so many Democrats, elected to change the direction of US trade policy, could be left out. While the text of the deal has not been made public, many were already questioning why the Democrats would make a deal on Bush's trade agreements without more substantive changes on labor, agriculture, investment, the environment, health, and other areas.

Below are the sentiments of several key leaders from the US and Latin America:

WORKING FAMILES

"There is a tremendous amount of pressure put on Freshmen Congressmen and we have three of them here in Indiana. I believe our Congressmen will do the right thing and defend working families in Northern Indiana, but it sure blows my mind why Congress would cut a deal that we know will trade away good jobs from Indiana."

-Jerome Davidson, President Northwest Indiana Federation of Labor

PUTTING BIG BUSINESS OVER CORE CONSTITUENTS

"By making a deal with President Bush the Democratic leadership divided their own party and their key supporters in one fell swoop. The people most pleased with this agreement are the members of the Business Round Table International Trade and Investment Task Force."

-Tom Loudon, Alliance for Responsible Trade

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

"The indigenous people of Colombia are extremely concerned about this news given that the Free Trade Agreements signify for us a huge step backwards in respecting our fundamental human rights. There are no changes that can make the US-Colombia Free Trade agreement better because there is a government whose officials are linked to massive human rights violations."

-National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC)

FAITH COMMUNITY

"International trade rules which protect the rights and livelihoods of people and sustain the environment are needed as part of the solution to global poverty. A deal that falls short of these standards is unacceptable."

-Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church, (USA)

AIDS, HEALTH & STUDENT LOANS

"I'm really worried that my representative, Speaker Pelosi, is brokering deals on free trade agreements that would restrict access to AIDS drugs when meanwhile they haven't even succeeded in making the student loan bill into law. I would hope that she'd put corporate interests on hold and instead work on getting people in Peru, Panama, Columbia, South Korea and the US access to health care and helping us pay for college."

-Will Nevius, San Francisco Voter, Willamette College Student, and National Steering Committee Member of the Student Global AIDS Campaign

SOCIAL SECURITY

"I haven't seen the final text of this deal, but I understand that the problem with the Social Security provisions in the Peru FTA haven't been fixed. In Peru, our social security system has undergone a failed privatization, and the U.S. company Citigroup is one of the investors that has benefited. We are worried that the trade agreement will make it difficult for us fix our broken social security system, and we would hope that the Democrats in the US Congress who defended the social security system in the United States will vote against the U.S.-Peru Free Trade agreement."

-Javier Mujica, Director of the Human Rights Program, Center for Labor Assistance in Peru (CEDAL)