THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2006
Tell Congress: Oppose applying failed NAFTA policies to Peru

We’ve all been preoccupied with the November elections, but watch out -- right afterwards we may be in for another sneak “free trade” attack!  Experienced Congress-watchers are predicting that win or lose, the Republican leadership will try to slip the next NAFTA clone -- the Peru Free Trade Agreement -- through Congress the first week of the lame-duck session (i.e., the session in Congress between an election and the end of the term), which begins Monday, Nov. 13.

The Peru Free Trade Agreement is yet another version of the failed NAFTA model, with the same emphasis on corporate and investor rights over worker and citizen rights. It follows a series of other recent agreements, notably the Central America Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, which just barely squeaked through the U.S. House of Representatives, 217-215, last summer with Reps. Dave Reichert, Cathy McMorris, Doc Hastings and Norm Dicks all voting for CAFTA.

Like the other NAFTA-based agreements, the Peru FTA has some serious flaws:

• No enforceable labor standards:  The Peru FTA does not include enforceable international labor standards, even though the State Department has reported rampant use of child labor in Peru .  The Bush Administration -- not the government of Peru ! -- said “no” to including such enforceable standards, signaling that they aren't really interested in a "level playing field” for human rights.
   

• No protection for unique and important ecological resources:  Peru contains part of the upper Amazon Basin , one of the most unique and biodiverse areas of the planet. Meanwhile, Peru is the worst offender for engaging in illegal trade in mahogany, the world’s most valuable wood commodity. At the same time: the U.S. is by far the biggest importer of mahogany.  In a rational world, a trade agreement between the U.S. and Peru would include provisions to address this illegal mahogany trade and insure Peru’s important ecological resources are not damaged by other careless logging, mining, or oil development. But the Peru FTA ignores these issues.

• Unfair to small farmers and indigenous people:  Just as NAFTA drove 1.5 million campesinos off their land due to the flooding of Mexico with subsidized corn from U.S. agribusiness, the Peru FTA will devastate small Peruvian farmers and their local communities.  Thirty-one percent (31%) of the employment in Peru is in agriculture, and the vast majority of that is in small or medium-sized farms raising food for domestic consumption.  These farmers will be forced to confront new straightjacket conditions where they either move into niche export markets, or leave farming. 

• Wrong-headed “Intellectual Property” (IP) provisions:  Drug companies won unprecedented protection in the Peru FTA for their brand-name products, and as a result more people will die because they cannot get low-cost generic drugs. The Peruvian Ministry of Health estimates that drug costs will increase by $34.4 million the first year of the agreement, and continue to increase in cost over time.

All these points signal a trade agreement going in the wrong direction. Please take a moment to call your representatives and tell them there is STILL no good reason to support the NAFTA model when applied to Peru or other countries!   Washington ’s congressional contact information.