Two different views of trade policy give area citizens plenty to consider on CAFTA

St. Paul, MN – Keeping the fight over free versus fair trade policy alive, the Steelworkers Associate Member Program teamed up with the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition to sponsor a debate between Art Rolnick, Senior Vice President and Director of Research for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis (free trader), and Larry Weiss, Executive Director of the Citizen Trade Campaign (fair trader), on the two perspectives’ effect on Minnesota’s jobs and communities. The over 200 members of the audience were able to directly interact with the two speakers and the evening’s moderator, George Latimer, Distinguished visiting professor of Urban Studies at Macalester College and former mayor of St. Paul, as they brought their messages home about trade policy with facts and colorful anecdotes.

“We saw what happened when a fair trade or ‘protectionist’ model was applied, recent tariffs raised the price on steel-related goods, lumber tariffs increased the cost of housing, and farm subsidies made products more expensive,” Rolnick of the Federal Reserve Bank declared. “Moreover, the net effect of free trade is that goods and services are produced at a lower cost allowing more consumers to take part in the economic benefits.”

According to “Free Trade” policy, eliminating obstacles to the movement of capital, raw materials, manufactured goods and services, allows for the creation of a model where countries are on a level playing field and the costs of production are greatly reduced. This results in greater access to goods and services and the creation of improved access to various markets for producers and consumers.

“I believe in trade as a vehicle for growing Minnesota and the US’ economic vitality,” Weiss from Citizen Trade Campaign said. “However, without fair trade standards in place, you end up with cheap and many times exploited labor forces, market place partnerships dominated by the wealthier entities, and restrictions on workers rights and lower environmental standards.”

“Fair Trade” policies purport to ensure that suppliers will allow workers the right to join trade unions, encourage environmental responsibility on the part of producers, and supports those same producers in development projects that they create in the developing countries where they do business.

“It is so vital that Minnesotans really get a understanding of both sides of this issue,” Latimer, the event’s moderator said. “I for one learned a great deal about how the global economy affects so much of what I purchase and use in my daily life.”

“I don’t think I can look at the fruit that I might buy at Wal-Mart the same way again,” Latimer quipped.

The debate on trade is part of series of events that AMP has been engaged in with its coalition partners on the critical issues facing Minnesota and other parts of the country. The AMP’s members have lobbied at the state capital for job creation, statewide renewable energy usage guidelines, and most recently activities with the sugar beet farmers from Minnesota and North Dakota in their efforts to stop the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) from being passed in the US Congress.

Fight Back ‘05 is the United Steelworkers Associate Member Program’s campaign to build power through community action.

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