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Free trade is not free: UCC urges opposition to
FTAA
Weekly Message 2001, #11 from the UCC Justice and
Peace Ministry
[4-24-01]
Thousands of protesters, including many from around the United Church of
Christ, gathered in Quebec City this past week to oppose "fast
track" government negotiations to create a free trade zone that
encompasses all of the western hemisphere. Known as the Free Trade Area
of the Americas (FTAA), this expansion of the North America Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) would intensify the "race to the bottom"
that has already enhanced corporate profits at the expense of the
world's poorest workers. The General Synod of the United Church of
Christ passed a resolution opposing NAFTA and has called for fair trade
policies that do not exploit the poor and endanger the environment.
The FTAA would allow products made in poor Central and South American
countries to be sold tariff-free in the United States and Canada. This
makes it easier for corporations to move or threaten to move operations
to areas with lower wages and weaker enforcement of environmental laws.
The result of such tariff-free sales is that businesses will compete to
relocate where they can pay the lowest possible wage. Under the FTAA,
for example, workers in Mexico would be pitted against even more
desperate workers in Haiti, Guatemala, or Brazil. This would further
depress wages and degrade the environment throughout the Americas.
Like NAFTA, the FTAA elevates free trade and profit generation above all
other values. Trade policy is no longer a global issue of nation versus
nation, but a moral issue of rich against the poor.
Let your members of Congress know that both FTAA and "Presidential
Trade Promotion Authority" are unacceptable. Call the Congressional
switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
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