Once again, U.S. trade officials have gone to the negotiating table and reached a terrific deal – for the other side.
The proposed U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached in the middle of the night in South Korea on April 2 as President Bush's negotiators rushed to meet a deadline for notifying Congress about the deal.
Days later, we still don't know all the details – but what we know doesn't look good.
The U.S.-Korea FTA fails the most elementary test of any reasonable trade deal: It's not reciprocal.
The United States currently has a $14 billion trade deficit with South Korea, of which $11.6 billion is accounted for by a deficit in auto trade. Yet, this agreement does nothing to fix this imbalance.
The United States has promised to eliminate or phase out tariffs on cars and pick-up trucks – but Korea won't take meaningful, enforceable action to eliminate the non-tariff trade barriers which have shut U.S. vehicles out of their market for years.
A day after the pact was announced, Hyundai announced a plan to import more pickup trucks to the U.S. Ford and Chrysler, meanwhile, have both stated their opposition because they won't get a fair chance to sell their products in Korea.
The U.S.-Korea FTA will put thousands of good-paying U.S. manufacturing jobs at risk. Just as disturbing, the treaty states that the United States will in the future "consider" including goods manufactured in the North Korean industrial zone of Kaesong. This would mean importing goods made by workers who labor as indentured servants for one of the world's most repressive regimes.
Others are also opposed to this deeply flawed trade pact, including Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan), Rep. Sander Levin (D-Michigan) and the National Cattelman's Beef Association, which is not satisfied with the limited access granted to South Korean markets.
The U.S.-Korea FTA does not include core labor rights as an enforceable part of the agreement. Our colleagues in the Korean Metalworkers union are routinely harassed and jailed, and the United States should not grant increased access to our markets to a country that does not respect universally recognized labor rights.
Workers and citizens in the United States and South Korea deserve better. This agreement should be fully examined in the light of day – and rejected, in favor of a more inclusive, democratic approach that builds in real protection for workers, consumers and the environment.
About the author:
Ron Gettelinger is the president of the United Auto Workers. To learn more, visit www.uaw.org.
About the Author
