EPI Economist Calls For New Worker-Friendly 21st Century Trade Policies

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/5639

EPI Economist Calls For New Worker-Friendly 21st Century Trade Policies

By Doug Cunningham

Rob Scott, Senior International Economist at the Economic Policy Institute, says there's no question that U.S. global trade policies have seriously hurt workers both in the U.S. and abroad. With U.S. political tides turning against those policies, Scott says there's a real opportunity to transform our 21st century global trade policies, especially if a Democratic president is elected in 2008.

: "We absolutely have to begin by incorporating labor and environmental standards in the core of trade agreements. And make them enforceable with trade sanctions ,with tariffs. I think we also have to make investments to rebuild our manufacturing capacity, industries that have been devastated by this race to the bottom. And finally, I think we have to rebuild the social safety net."

AUDIO story here: http://www.laborradio.org/files/lo/winsheadlines.ram

[xchrom]

1. we need to cancel broad ''free trade'' agreements with several countries

at once -- and go back to making individual agreements.

cancel attaching trade to foreign policy.

and try as much as possible to re-esablish closer trade agreements with first world countries.

good for this guy -- lets hope he is prophetic.