Summit County Progressive Democrats -- Activist Events

MYTHS OF FREE TRADE:

WHY AMERICAN TRADE POLICY HAS FAILED

By Sherrod Brown

2004

New York, The New Press

215 pages

In a slim volume that could be read in a week-end, Senator Sherrod Brown lays out the facts. Crisp, well-organized, and persuasive, this book illuminates the differences between trade, free trade, and fair trade, and their effects on our domestic economy and human lives around the world.

Senator Brown lamented that "Trade gets more one-sided coverage from the nation’s mainstream media than any other issue," and that one side is that trade, all kinds of trade, is always good. He lays out this bias in seven "myths" that most people believe without checking the facts. He checks those facts for us, presents them in the context of human lives, and comes up with a very different conclusion.

For example, though many people assume that cheaper imports translate directly into cheaper prices for the American consumer, production cost savings are rarely passed along to American consumers. Nike and Disney both use cheap overseas labor to produce their clothing items, but their prices remain unchanged. Tomatoes grown in Mexico cost more in the United States than those grown in Florida.

Supporters also promote the myth that free trade with nations suffering under authoritarian regimes brings free markets which inevitably lead to political freedom. But Senator Brown is there with the facts that contradict this myth. For example, South Africa’s system of apartheid was brought down only when they were denied free trade, and our political leaders have repeatedly excused and supported authoritarian governments in Asia because our corporations favor these totalitarian societies as ideal places to reap huge profits.

And of course there is always this old favorite: "Free trade agreements are necessary to fight the war on terrorism." This oddity is explained as the obligation of the United States to show international leadership in the face of terrorism by building coalitions through free trade. Those who express environmental, labor, and human rights concerns are said to have an "unexpected alliance" with terrorists.

But most informative are the stories of how unregulated free trade affects the lives of people in America and our trading partners. Senator Brown relies not just on his personal experience in the House of Representatives. He has also visited communities in Mexico where NAFTA has brought declining standards of living through lower purchasing power, loss of worker’s rights, and deteriorating environmental conditions. He has spoken to families who work and live in the maquiladoras, where workers are exploited and intimidated by their American employers, live in dilapidated homes with undernourished children, and have little or no access to health care.

We have an answer to these scandals. It is called fair trade. Senator Brown makes clear the advantages of international trade when human rights, consumer protections, and a respect for the environment are included in trade deals. Healthy trade deals can strengthen, rather than undermine the democratic process in the United States and our trading partners. Existing trade deals, such as NAFTA and CAFTA could be modified to fulfill the promises made and broken by free traders.

But Senator Brown also makes clear that, without a well-informed and active citizenry, the promise of international fair trade will never be. When citizens leave these decisions in the hands of politicians, and then look the other way, those politicians are free to serve the interests of those who benefit most from unfair trade and seem to have no moral conscience.

Senator Brown relates how grassroots opponents of unfair trade nearly won the day in 2001 against the injustices in the Trade Promotion Authority Bill. Labor activists from northeast Ohio worked energetically, making telephone calls, writing letters, and sending e-mails and faxes to members of the House of Representatives. They organized meetings, rallies, and demonstrations, and held news conferences. Then-Senator Brown brought environmental groups into the organized effort. He reported thirty to forty thousand calls to the offices of members of the House of Representatives from labor, environmental, and human rights groups.

They almost made it, too. But the strong-arm tactics of the Republicans and their manipulation of post-9/11 emotions were strong. If the SCPD existed then, might we have made the crucial difference?

Next time we need to be ready. We need to understand the issues involved, know the players, and back our champions in Congress like Senator Brown. Read this book and prepare yourself for the next opportunity to restore sanity, morality, and financial responsibility to our international trade deals.

Senator Brown dedicated his book "To America’s hourly wage earners who built a nation which is now letting them down. And to those workers around the world who have yet to benefit from the fruits of their labor." All Senator Brown’s proceeds from the sale of his book go to organizations committed to social and economic justice.

Denise C. Woods