“Strategic Pause” on FTAs

Not surprisingly, the international trade press is reporting this week that passage of free trade agreements is going to be much more difficult to secure now that the Democrats are in charge of Congress.

According to Inside Trade, (subscription) “AFL-CIO Vice President Richard Trumka said the AFL-CIO would ask the new leaders in Congress to take a ‘strategic pause’ in considering free-trade agreements, and he indicated the FTAs with Peru and Colombia should not be considered under the current fast-track authority. ‘We’ll be looking for a strategic pause in the trading programs so we can adjust them because right now they’re not working for the country,’ Trumka said. He spoke at a Nov. 8 AFL-CIO press conference in which the union took credit for helping Democrats retake the House for the first time since 1994. Private-sector sources said getting a Democratic Congress to approve the Colombia FTA would be even more difficult than securing approval of the Peru FTA, since Colombia has a history of violence directed toward union organizers. It also is a much larger sugar exporter than Peru, which will raise opposition from other members…. Senator-elect Sherrod Brown (D-OH), who led Democratic opposition to the Central American Free Trade Agreement last year as a House member, this week predicted future trade agreements would have to include stronger environmental, labor and food safety provisions in order to win approval. He also suggested an extension of fast track, which expires next summer, will not be possible with Democrats in control of the House and Senate.”