Dear Senator/Representative:
As globalization increasingly touches
the lives of American families, trade agreements can no longer be
treated as the sole province of business. The AFL-CIO fervently believes
that the rules of the global economy—rules such as those set in the
trade agreement between the United States and China in regard to its
accession to the World Trade Organization—must take into account all of
society. Human values, not just business values, must inform these trade
agreements.
The administration has made a grave
miscalculation of the costs and benefits of bringing China into the WTO
under the terms of the recently negotiated agreement. The American
people support trade, but strongly believe that trade agreements must
protect workers' rights, human rights and environmental protections. The
proposed U.S. agreement with China does not reflect those values.
The AFL-CIO, on behalf of 13 million
workers and their families, strongly urges you to vote against
legislation granting permanent normal trade relations status to China.
Recognizing that the Congress will not have the opportunity to vote on
China's accession to the WTO nor on the specific terms of the accession
agreement with China, we believe that Congress should not give up its
ability to review China's trade compliance, its observance of workers'
rights and human rights and its progress on environmental
issues.
In Seattle, many voices joined to
express broad concerns about how globalization affects everyday lives.
These urgently felt concerns cannot be ignored. Workers in this country
and around the world need rules that protect them from exploitation.
Developing countries need both the resources and the technical
assistance to free themselves from crippling debt burdens, to engage in
trade negotiations on an equal footing and to implement and enforce
adequate labor and environmental standards. Protection of the
environment must not take a back seat to trade liberalization.
Congress has a responsibility to do its
part to assure that globalization and the international institutions
that guide it are responsive to these concerns.
Extending permanent NTR to China does
not address these concerns. Congress must demand a broader, more responsive global
policy from this administration by rejecting permanent NTR for
China.
China has demonstrated that it is not
ready for membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Chinese
government repeatedly and flagrantly violates international norms on
fundamental human rights, including freedom of association, freedom of
speech and religious freedom. Independent trade union activity is
brutally repressed, and today, many labor activists are serving lengthy
terms in hard-labor camps for their efforts to give voice to workers'
concerns. Once China gets full privileges in the WTO, which has no rules
or minimum standards regarding compliance with core labor standards, the
United States will lose its economic leverage on these issues.
Of key importance in terms of the United
States' commercial relationship with China, China has shown little
regard for trade agreements it has signed, or even for the terms of WTO
accession agreed to last November. According to the US Trade
Representative's own annual reports, China has violated the terms of all
four bilateral trade agreements it has signed with the United States
since 1992—on market opening, prison labor, intellectual
property rights and textiles. The burgeoning US trade deficit with
China—approaching $70 billion in 1999—vividly
illustrates the outcome of China's stubborn refusal to play by the rules
it has agreed to in principle.
To suggest that China's entry into the
WTO will bring it under the rule of law is simply wishful
thinking. Chinese government
officials have repeatedly stated that they have no intention of
complying with the spirit or the letter of the bilateral WTO accession
agreement in a number of areas, including insurance, telecommunications,
grain, beef and petroleum. The WTO
itself is not coping well with rapidly changing world economic
conditions and relationships. WTO
dispute settlement provisions are not designed to confront massive
noncompliance. China's membership in the WTO could actually undermine
other countries' compliance with WTO rules and weaken the WTO itself if
China's flouting of the rules goes unchecked.
Given China's dismal record of human and
workers' rights violations and noncompliance with market-opening
agreements, the prudent course of action is to withhold permanent NTR
until the Chinese government has demonstrated that it is ready and able
to comply with international standards in these areas.
The United States' leadership in
defining new rules for the global economy is of great importance to
working families. I urge you to vote against legislation granting
permanent NTR to China.
Sincerely,
John J. Sweeney
President
AFL-CIO