The Fast Track Bill

[MDOLAN <mdolan@citizen.org>]

  We have the long awaited "fast track" bill; it was ibntroduced this 
  afternoon when Clinton and Gore came over to Capitol Hill to address the 
  Democratic Caucus and plead for the opportunity to expand NAFTA.  We have 
  some problems with the legislation.
  
  The proposal not only abandons the Administration's claimed commitment to 
  environmental and labor measures in trade, but affirmatively bans U.S. 
  Presidents for the next eight to deal with these issues. Remarkeably, this 
  is dramatically worse than the old fast track used for NAFTA and GATT-WTO.
  
  ONE
  Archer Wins on Environment and Labor Limits: The proposal caves in to GOP 
  demands to affirmatively keep environmental and labor consideration out of 
  future trade negotiations. This is done by adding new restrictive language 
  in section 2. The fast track that has existed off and on since 1974 allowed 
  coverage of all matters "necessary" or  "appropriate" to U.S. objectives. 
  The terms appropriate left Presidential discretion, for instance to put the 
  non-binding environmental provisions in NAFTA or to have included the NAFTA 
  side agreements under fast track. The new language restricts fast track to 
  matters needed: "To address those aspects of foreign government policies and 
  practices regarding labor, the environment., and other matters that are 
  directly related to trade and decrease market opportunities for U.S. exports 
  or distort U.S. trade." Thus, only provisions that eliminate other 
  countries' labor and environmental rules that could keep out U.S. products 
  could be covered. Attempts to make enforcing labor or environmental 
  standards a condition for obtaining other commercial benefits of a trade 
  agreement would be specifically excluded under this fast track language.
  
  TWO
  Eight year duration until 2005 covering all multilateral, bilateral trade 
  and investment agreements. There is no specific coverage of CBI, the 
  Sub-Sahara Africa bill or the MAI in the proposal. However, the language 
  necessary to exclude MAI from fast track coverage (given the general 
  coverage of investment agreements) is missing.
  
  THREE
  Grandfathers-in automatic fast track coverage of NAFTA expansion to Chile 
  and negotiations on all GATT-WTO "built-in" agenda items including: 
  investment, agriculture (including further undermining of domestic food 
  saftey standards,) intellectual property, services. Thus, the President 
  would not have to obtain congressional approval to apply fast track to these 
  uses. Thus, Congress would lose its traditional right to vote no in 60 days 
  to oppose such a request.
  
  FOUR
  No negotiating objectives on currency stability, illegal drugs, or food 
  safety.
  
  FIVE
  Specifically relegates to WTO any future "review of the relationship" of 
  trade to environment or labor despite (i) December 1996 WTO Ministerial 
  Declaration announcing that the WTO would not deal with labor and trade and 
  was sending the issue to the ILO, and (ii) WTO Trade and Environment 
  Committee whose mission is to remove environmental laws that limit trade.
  
  As I may have mentioned previously, we oppose NAFTA expansion and the "fast 
  track" bill.  We urge you to contact your congressional delegation -- toll 
  free: 1-888-723-5246 -- and express your opposition to "free trade" 
  expansion in general and this retrograde "fast track" bill in particular.
  
  Questions or Comments?
  
  
  
  ****************************************************************************
   /s/ Mike Dolan, Field Director, Global Trade Watch, Public Citizen
  
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