McDermott Calls For Balanced
Approach To FTA Agreements
For Immediate Release - July 24, 2003

Washington, DC - Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) released the following statement on the House of Representatives consideration of the United States-Chile and Singapore Free Trade Agreements. Although both agreements passed today, over 150 Members of Congress opposed them.

For me, today's votes are not about the merits of opening up foreign markets to American goods and services. I believe in trade and in reducing trade barriers. Democrats and Republicans alike support opening markets abroad, because over 90% of consumers live outside of America's borders.

I voted against these bills because the United States Trade Representative (USTR) abused the process established by Congress for making these agreements under the "fast track" law.

First, the Administration shut out Congress. In an effort to keep the Chile and Singapore trade agreements secret until the very last moment, the Administration ignored the requirements set forth by the "fast-track" trade law that were designed to ensure transparency and consultation with Congress during trade negotiations. Congress established these requirements in the Administration's fast-track bill that House approved by just three votes on July 27th 2002.

Second, the Administration shut out the private sector. Fast-track requires the USTR to consult with private sector advisory committees to seek their opinions about trade agreements, but USTR refused to provide these committees with the text of the agreements in time for the private sector groups to meet the legal deadline for comments.

Third, the Administration shut out the public. After losing a court case in which the USTR tried to avoid fulfilling Freedom of Information Act Requests, the USTR then decided to classify each and every trade document for "national security purposes" so no one outside the government could read them.

These abuses matter. If the Administration does not get the message that this secrecy and exclusion have to be stopped, we can look forward to more anti-trade protests, more misunderstanding, and more distrust. This country's commitment to trade liberalization will be hurt and eventually destroyed if the Administration does not let the American Congress and the American people participate in decisions that will affect our economic security for generations to come.

I represent a Congressional district with an economy that relies heavily on exports. But my district is also deeply concerned about the process by which economies liberalize and the effects that this process has on working families and the environment in which they live. We want trade, but we don't want secrecy and exclusion. We want agreements made in the light of day with advice from Congress, U.S. citizens and businesses and with accountability from the Administration.

America's first Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton told us that "Caution and investigation are a necessary armor against error and imposition." Nonetheless, no public hearings whatsoever were held on these bills. As we try to regulate the process of globalization, trade policy has become too important to be constructed under a cloak of secrecy or on the back of a galloping horse.

I deeply value the democratic, open, and transparent governing process that our Founding Fathers envisioned, and I believe that there is no virtue in destroying these values for the pursuit of economic gain.