US crafts labor, green sanctions on trade pacts
Date: 25-Oct-02
Country: USA
The proposal tries to set standards for one of the most controversial aspects of bilateral free-trade agreements - how to craft those deals and at the same time encourage countries to not roll back protections for workers and the environment.
Under a new U.S. trade law known as trade promotion authority, the Bush administration must weave into future free-trade agreements labor and environmental protections.
But a debate has been raging over whether countries, including the United States, should face sanctions for failing to enforce their own laws.
The United States is in the midst of negotiating free-trade agreements with Chile and Singapore.
U.S. trade officials, who asked not to be identified, said on Wednesday they wanted to provide both governments with the details of their labor and environmental enforcement proposals in early November.
"In a few weeks we will table language on the U.S. position," said one of the U.S. officials. "We are still consulting with Congress."
The officials said the United States and countries that enter into free-trade agreements with it could face fines of about $10 million per year for failing to enforce an environmental or labor law in a way that has an impact on trade.
The fines would be collected by a commission created by the two governments in any bilateral deal and the goal would be to eventually refund that money to help those countries with enforcement, the U.S. officials said.
Many Democrats in Congress, along with U.S. labor unions and environmental groups, have been critical of the Bush administration, saying it has refused to pursue any meaningful labor and environmental protections in trade agreements.
Daniel Seligman, a trade specialist with the Sierra Club, a U.S. environmental group, on Wednesday criticized the program being crafted by the Bush administration.
"It seems to be attempting to meet the benchmark" set by trade promotion authority, Seligman said. "However that benchmark is a giant step backward" and "seems to be more the appearance of progress than a substantial achievement for workers and the environment," he said.
Seligman said the new trade law sets "a very low bar" of guidelines for labor and environmental enforcement standards. The administration, he said, "would be free to negotiate a higher standard. It has simply chosen not to."
But the U.S. trade officials said they have received positive feedback from members of Congress who were briefed on the enforcement plan.
Under that plan, panels established by the United States and new free-trade partners would set fines.
If the offending government were to refuse to pay the fine, the U.S. plan would allow "alternative collections, like import surcharges" to be imposed, the U.S. officials said.
