[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 104 (Tuesday, July 15, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9400-S9401]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]







                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS



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  (At the request of Mr. DASCHLE, the following statement was ordered 

to be printed in the Record.)



                   FREE TRADE AND WORKER PROTECTIONS



 Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, the Senate will soon consider 

implementing legislation for the Chile and Singapore Free Trade 

Agreements. These FTAs are comprehensive in nature and will serve well 

the interests of the United States and these two very important trading 

partners.

  However, I am increasingly concerned with the notion that the Chile 

and Singapore FTAs should serve as models or templates for future trade 

negotiations. I feel strongly that future negotiations must reflect the 

particular concerns and uniqueness of each trading partner. This seems 

obvious, but those who follow trade negotiations have warned that the 

Bush administration may claim that the standards of the Chile and 

Singapore agreements are universally applicable. I hope those warnings 

are wrong because provisions that are acceptable given the 

circumstances in Chile and Singapore may not be acceptable in 

agreements with countries in very different situations.

  International trade enhances economic opportunity and can serve to 

improve workers' rights. As such, future trade agreements must build 

upon the progress made to date by including comprehensive worker 

protections and strong enforcement provisions.

  Over the past decade, the treatment of labor and environmental issues 

in trade agreements has evolved both in emphasis and enforcement. NAFTA 

represents an early stage in this evolution, addressing labor and 

environmental issues in the context of the agreement, albeit in side 

accords. The United States-Jordan Free Trade Agreement was the first 

FTA to include labor provisions in the actual text of the agreement and 

to subject those provisions to the same dispute settlement procedure as 

all other elements of the agreement.

  Although the Chile and Singapore agreements should be the next step 

forward in this evolution towards strong and effectively enforced labor 

and environmental standards, they are in fact a step back. Unlike the 

United States-Jordan FTA, the only labor provision subject to dispute 

settlement is the requirement that each trading partner enforce its 

existing labor laws. Furthermore, there is no enforcement mechanism to 

ensure that Chile and Singapore will strive to uphold basic 

international labor rights.

  As we pursue future trade agreements, we must encourage policies that 

avoid a downward spiral in working or environmental conditions. Trade 

agreements must be a catalyst to improve these standards. To achieve 

this end, American trade policy must be flexible: we must maintain a 

broad adherence to basic principles and at the same time address the 

unique characteristics of each trading partner.

  Maintaining this flexibility is of utmost importance in our ongoing 

trade negotiations with six Central American countries. These countries 

provide an entirely different set of political and economic conditions 

than Chile, Singapore, and our other FTA partners. The administration 

must not ignore the fact that critical differences exist between the 

CAFTA countries and Chile and Singapore in labor and environmental 

areas. A fully enforceable obligation to adopt and enforce basic labor 

standards will improve the broader socioeconomic dynamics in Central





[[Page S9401]]



America. I have recently written to Ambassador Zoellick on this topic, 

along with Senators Baucus, Bingaman, and Jeffords. We expressed 

concern that the labor rights situation in a number of the Central 

American countries presents concerns of a significant degree different 

from those underlying the negotiations of the United States-Singapore 

and United States-Chile FTAs and urged that the CAFTA negotiations 

ought not be tied to previously negotiated agreements.

  I will monitor progress of future trade negotiations closely and 

fully expect to see substantial progress in several areas. In 

particular, the inclusion of basic worker protections, as well as 

strong monitoring and enforcement provisions, are necessary to meet the 

challenges of an inclusive and progressive trade policy. 



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