Why trade matters

To put it simply, the fate of the planet depends upon whether we put the well-being of the vast majority of the world's people, including American workers, ahead of immense profits for the wealthy few. Workers in the U.S. need to have ties with workers abroad, both for our mutual defense and to assert our own vision of globalization.

The trade agreements being signed today give tremendous protection to huge corporations, while ignoring the rights of workers and citizens. Neo-liberal economic structures, which give free reign to private markets at the expense of public standards, are being spread worldwide. Powerful international financial institution like the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization dictate that countries must structure their economies to serve the interests of transnational corporations rather than their own people. They make decisions in private, with no democratic input.

In order to create low-wage and non-union havens for industry, they impose privatization, smaller public budgets, lower labor and environmental standards, and corporate-driven development schemes on the world's citizens, without their consent. Free trade schemes such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAPTA) and Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) allow companies to move jobs across borders in search of the most lenient employment and environmental standards. These schemes force workers into a race to the bottom, competing for jobs on the basis of low wages, miserable conditions, and few benefits.

It is possible to create a just economic system that will benefit all. A system that favors the few through the exploitation of many is not inevitable. We must continue to imagine and promote alternatives to our modern corporate-global capitalism.