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My Position: Our trade policy should reflect American principles – principles that expand and shape trade in ways that spread the benefits of globalization here and abroad – by raising standards of living and leveling the playing field for American workers, farmers, and businesses.  Trade should be used as a tool to foster development in the poorest countries of the world.

The phenomenon known as globalization is here to stay.  Fortunately, it has the potential to benefit the United States and the rest of the world.  Unfortunately, previous U.S. trade policies have resulted in an unbalanced distribution of these benefits, leaving the American public skeptical of both trade and globalization. This growing unease toward U.S. trade policy is shared by Democratic and Republican voters alike and is a reality that must be recognized and addressed.  Now, more than ever, there is a need to put a “human face” on globalization.  A “hands-off” approach to the international economy will work no better than the “hands-off” approach to the domestic economy that was in place before the Great Depression and the New Deal.

I joined with other House Democrats to unveil a “New Trade Policy for America” on March 27, 2007. This policy, which is a culmination of positions developed over more than a decade by House Democrats, outlines five fundamental principles for a new trade policy:

• Ensure that U.S. free trade agreements raise standards of living and create new markets for U.S. goods (for example by including enforceable labor and environmental standards in the core text);
• Stand up for American workers, farmers and businesses (for example by enforcing existing trade agreements and taking action to address unfair trade practices);
• Open major markets to create new opportunities, especially through the “Doha Round” of World Trade Organization negotiations;
• Create a “Strategic Workers Assistance and Training Initiative” to provide meaningful support and training for those who are hurt by the effects of increased trade and technology, and to make our communities more competitive; and
• Expand America’s diplomacy and strengthen national security by using trade and aid to foster development in the poorest countries of the world.  

It is imperative that we stand up for American interests by enforcing existing trade agreements. H.R. 496 amends United States trade laws to address foreign barriers to exports of United States goods and services and restores rights under trade remedy laws. It also strengthens enforcement of United States intellectual property rights and health and safety laws at United States borders.

We should provide new opportunities for American Workers to succeed in a globalized economy. The House passed my bill, H.R. 3920, which expands Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) – a program to assist workers who lost their jobs as a result of international trade with training and income support – to cover more workers, including service workers, and to improve their training opportunities and health care benefits. It also creates new benefits for industries and communities that have been hit hard by trade. In the 111th Congress, I will continue to fight to enact this critical overhaul and expansion of Trade Adjustment Assistance.

We can use trade to foster developments in the poorest countries of the world. I have strongly supported U.S. preference programs, including the General System of Preferences (GSP), the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) programs, Andean trade preference programs and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).  I was a primary author of the CBI, Andean and AGOA programs, and have consistently fought for their extension and improvement. I have been a leading advocate for enhanced trade with Haiti, the only United Nations-designated least developed country (LDC) in the Western Hemisphere.  We were successful in including enhanced trade preferences for Haiti in the 2008 Farm Bill. The Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE II) Act provisions provide additional, simplified ways for Haitian apparel to qualify for duty-free treatment and enhanced incentives to use U.S. inputs.  HOPE II also required that Haiti establish a comprehensive labor monitoring program in its apparel sector at the enterprise level with assistance from the International Labor Organization. 

On a bipartisan basis, we reached an historic agreement with the Bush Administration to revise free trade agreements (FTAs) to incorporate key Democratic principles.  As a result of the “May 10 Agreement,” four pending FTAs with Colombia, Korea, Panama and Peru became the first U.S. FTAs to include fully-enforceable basic international labor standards, as stated in the 1998 International Labor Organization Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.  They were also the first FTAs to require the parties to implement and enforce their obligations under common multilateral environmental agreements and, in the case of the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, to require Peru to take major, specific steps to address illegal logging. 

The May 10 Agreement also required other important changes to the texts of these FTAs, including:

• Modifications of the intellectual property chapter to balance promoting access to medicines and protecting pharmaceutical innovation (in particular, in the agreements with Colombia, Panama and Peru);
• Clarification that the government procurement chapters allow conditioning of contracts on adherence to basic and minimum labor standards;
• Clarification that, where there are national security concerns, the United States can prevent foreign companies from operating U.S. ports; and
• Clarification that the FTAs do not accord foreign investors in the United States with greater substantive rights with respect to investment protections than U.S. investors in the United States. 

On November 8, 2007,we passed the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Act, with strong bipartisan support, making it the first enacted FTA to incorporate the historic May 10 Agreement. ■