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Rangel outlines Dems’ broad trade agenda |
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By Ian Swanson
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Posted: 03/27/07 07:43 PM [ET] |
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) yesterday unveiled a set of conditions he said must be met before the administration’s trade agenda in the Democratic Congress moves forward.
Rangel presented the wide-ranging policy, which covered everything from labor rights to port security, at a noon meeting of the Democratic Caucus where the points won an endorsement, he said. Rangel previously shared such policy details in separate meetings on March 23 and Monday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Following the caucus meeting, Rangel presented his ideas to U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, as well as to top Ways and Means Republicans, with a simple message.
“All we have said was that we have won the election. We are in the majority. It just makes sense that we should not have to beg for consideration of things that we think would be good for trade and good for America,” Rangel told reporters.
Rangel’s presentation reflects the broader challenges the administration now faces on trade. In the last Congress, former Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) did not include Democrats in the crafting of trade legislation. While Democratic demands on labor and the environment were raised at committee hearings and markups, such concerns generally were pushed aside.
Rangel described the initial reactions from Paulson, Schwab, Ways and Means ranking member Jim McCrery (R-La.) and trade subcommittee ranking member Wally Herger (R-Calif.) as positive, and Schwab issued a statement welcoming Rangel’s offer.
“This is another step in what has been a good-faith effort in a continuing dialogue by all sides,” Schwab said.
House Democratic Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said a sizeable number of Democrats could support free-trade deals negotiated by the administration if they included the principles outlined by Rangel. Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio), who has led a group of freshman Democrats in demanding changes to trade policy, said that Rangel’s proposal demonstrated Democrats’ progress, and that she looked forward to seeing the administration’s response.
The new Democratic demands raise questions about three trade agreements already negotiated by the administration with Latin American countries, as well as a fourth with Korea that it hopes to wrap up this week. Those agreements will not be considered under fast-track authority unless the changes are agreed to and made before Friday.
Fast track, which allows trade agreements to be considered by Congress in up-or-down votes, expires at the end of June. It requires that legislation implementing trade deals be presented to Congress 90 days in advance.
Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.), who chairs the Ways and Means trade subcommittee, said that text in the pending free-trade agreements (FTAs) must be altered to meet Democratic demands, and that Democrats would work to meet the end-of-month deadline. He also indicated other options could be considered.
Levin said fast track could be extended if the administration were willing to fit the Democratic principles into the current fast-track authority, but he questioned whether the administration would agree to such terms.
Pending trade deals with Peru, Panama and Colombia would all have to be changed in several ways to meet the Democratic mandates.
On labor, the deals would have to require that countries adopt, maintain and enforce basic International Labor Organization (ILO) standards. Currently, the three deals only require countries to enforce their own labor laws, which may or may not reflect ILO criteria.
On the environment, parties would have to implement and enforce common multilateral environmental agreements such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Environmental groups have called this stipulation particularly critical with regard to the Peru FTA because of the trade of mahogany, an endangered tree species that the Sierra Club and other groups say is exported from Peru in violation of CITES.
Democrats also want the Peru FTA to ensure that Dubai Ports World, which operates a major Peruvian port, could not use that deal’s dispute-settlement system to sue the U.S. if Congress prevents the company from investing in a U.S. port. Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, had raised the issue with Rangel.
Additionally, Democrats are calling on the administration to take action against Chinese subsidies and intellectual-property rights violations, and to defend and strengthen U.S. anti-dumping and countervailing laws. While lawmakers are asking the administration to take action against currency manipulation in China and Japan, they are not endorsing legislation that would make currency manipulation a subsidy.
However, Levin highlighted a joint hearing Ways and Means will hold with two other subcommittees on China currency legislation.
Rangel reiterated that the administration should force Korea to agree to a proposal presented by himself and Levin to open its markets to U.S. automobiles and other goods. That proposal would, among other things, exclude the 25 percent U.S. truck tariff from reductions.
Finally, the policy proposal calls for a reinvigorated role for Congress in the Doha round of World Trade Organization talks; the creation of a “trade enforcer” to prepare WTO litigation; and a new workers assistance and training initiative to help workers hurt not only by the effects of trade, but by improvements in technology.
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