Fair Trade Deals

As this Dispatch will outline, Buy American policies are a first step in promoting an alternative to the trade and deregulation policies that fueled the current economic crisis.  Ultimately, we need policies that strengthen local tools for economic growth at home, combined with fair trade policies to raise wage standards abroad as well.   Also, as corporate interests increasingly use trade agreements to restrict state authority to protect worker, consumer and environmental interests, states are increasingly reviewing those trade agreements in order to restore states' ability to effectively respond to economic crises and protect the long-term interests of working families.

For years, states have increasingly seen their hands tied by a federal government declaring that preemption voids state consumer, environmental and labor rights laws.  The Bush administration in particular used its regulatory authority aggressively to block state law after state law.   

The results have been catastrophic.  Despite the myth that "no one saw the subprime meltdown coming," the reality is that thirty states enacted laws to rein in abuses by predatory lenders.  However, the Bush administration used its regulatory authority over banks to shut down most of those predatory lending laws in the courts. This is just the most dramatic example of how preemption allowed the federal government to enforce its own inaction on state governments at the behest of corporate interests.

Back in May, when testing of baby bibs imported from China revealed high levels of lead, retail giant Wal-Mart claimed to recall the product. The vinyl portion of the bibs exceeded the lead levels set by Illinois for children's products. A spokeswoman for Wal-Mart said, "We at Wal-Mart are committed to working... to develop industry standards for the elimination of vinyl in children's products." Wal-Mart pulled the product from its shelves nationwide, but only provided refunds or replacements to customers in Illinois.

When the Montana State Senate voted overwhelmingly two weeks ago to oppose approval of reauthorization of "Fast Track" Trade Promotion authority for new trade deals, it sent a powerful message that the American people and state governments are tiring of misguided trade deals.

Early this week, the Montana State Senate took a shot at out-of-control U.S. trade policies when it overwhelmingly passed (44-6) a resolution calling on Congress not to renew the President's "Fast Track" trade promotion authority.  That fast track power gives the President the ability to negotiate trade deals with no amendments allowed by elected officials, leading to a history of bad trade deals that limit opportunity for workers and state legislatures' ability to govern.

Every state and local official should be paying more attention to the global trade talks at the World Trade Organization, since local power to regulate services such as health care, mass transit and a range of other public services are on the chopping block.

In the last few weeks, the debate on immigration has heated up.