The Democrats at Soldier Field, Pleasing the Protectionist Base

posted on August 16, 2007
by Greg Rushford

Does AFL-CIO chief John Sweeney already have the next president of the United States in his pocket? The answer, of course, is way premature. But you have to give the man credit for his patience and persistence in pursuing his political ambitions for organized labor to take control of U.S. international economic policy. The best evidence that Sweeney is gaining ground and chalking up markers is illustrated in some recent words uttered by the Democratic Party's current presidential aspirants themselves, which are quoted at some length below. But first, let's try to get the political context right.

On August 7, during a debate sponsored by the AFL-CIO at Chicago's Soldier Field, seven Democratic candidates for their party's 2008 nomination for president fielded questions on where they stand on international trade. One of them could well become the next occupant of the Oval Office. The next vice president could be another, and perhaps also some future cabinet members. So it's worth noting, by way of a future measuring stick, that last week, each of the candidates promised that, if elected, U.S. trade policy would advance organized labor's trade agenda.

The only mention of the World Trade Organization was when Dennis Kucinich drew the loudest cheers of the evening by asserting that the United States should pull the plug. None of the candidates expressed any awareness that the WTO, with its rules-based multilateral trading accords -- as did the WTO's predecessor multilateral trade organization, GATT -- has long been at the core of America's claims to international economic leadership. Nobody was willing to point out the consequences of such a reckless act as withdrawing from a system that the United States, more than any other country, has done so much to build. Hey, the votes being sought are in places like Chicago, not Geneva.

Sweeney, a protectionist to his core, has long wanted a Democrat in the White House who would break from the party's record of liberal internationalism that dates to the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Walter Reuther. In the 1990s with Democrat Bill Clinton in the White House, Sweeney was frustrated when Clinton -- typically trying to find a middle ground between two opposing polar forces by keeping a foot in both camps -- did what he could to keep globaphobes like Sweeney on board, while also relying on sophisticated internationalists in the party like Robert Rubin and Larry Summers to make sure that the economic train did not run off its tracks.

Clinton bucked labor to push through NAFTA in 1993, and later made trade with China a centerpiece of his presidency. Clinton also wrapped up the WTO's Uruguay Round in 1995, but then allowed Sweeney to kill an extension of "fast-track" trade negotiating authority that would be necessary to launch any more trade negotiations. Clinton, on Sweeney's behalf, later helped kill the launch of a WTO Seattle Round of multilateral trade liberalizing negotiations in December, 1999. In Seattle, the president deeply angered Third World WTO members with the suggestion that they might face economic sanctions if they did not adopt the AFL-CIO's demands on labor standards.

By the time Clinton left office, Sweeney might not have gotten everything he had wanted, but at least he could take satisfaction that the U.S. trade liberalizing agenda was stalled. But then in late 2001, the situation worsened from Sweeney's perspective. George W. Bush's first trade negotiator, Robert Zoellick, got trade liberalizing moving again by obtaining fast track authority for George W. Bush and launching the WTO's Doha Round.

Now, looking ahead to the 2008 presidential race, it has to be encouraging to Sweeney that protectionist sentiment is rising in the country, and that Congress is now controlled by pro-labor Democrats. House speaker Nancy Pelosi -- who in the 1990s did everything she could to prevent the Clinton administration from normalizing trading relations with China -- has refused to extend fast track for Bush. In recent weeks, Rep. Sandy Levin has flown to Peru to demand that the price of congressional approval of a Bush-negotiated trade bilateral be that Peru change its domestic labor laws to satisfy the AFL-CIO. Moreover, although political predictions more than a year before the voters have their say are always risky, the Democrats' changes of regaining the White House are widely regarded as excellent, if not perhaps a slam dunk. So the AFL-CIO is doing everything it can to lock in the Democratic presidential hopefuls, such as holding last week's event at Soldier Field, where some 17,000 cheering union members heard what they wanted to hear.

Sure, it's campaign rhetoric, not to be taken literally. But still, one wonders whether trade officials in the European Union, Brazil, and India (not to mention China, Canada, and Mexico) were paying attention. If these key countries really want the World Trade Organization's Doha Round of trade liberalizing negotiations to succeed, they had better start making genuine concessions to rescue the round while George W. Bush is still in office. For if there is a Democrat in the White House come January 2009, Uncle Sam as the world's trade policeman will be back, and haughty unilateralism will drive the U.S. trade agenda. If so, it is a safe prediction that the Democrats would find that their demands that Third World nations change their domestic labor laws to comply with the AFL-CIO's political agenda will succeed much as George W. Bush and the neo-conservatives have succeeded in imposing democracy upon Iraq and throughout the Middle East. But perhaps Sweeney and the AFL-CIO leaders wouldn't have to care much, as at least the Doha Round would surely be a dead letter.

Keep these quotes for your records:

Hillary Clinton: Well, I had said that for many years, that, you know, NAFTA and the way it's been implemented has hurt a lot of American workers. In fact, I did a study in New York looking at the impact of NAFTA on business people, workers and farmers who couldn't get their products into Canada despite NAFTA...

I believe in smart trade. I've said that for years. Pro-American trade. Trade that has labor and environmental standards, that's not a race to the bottom but tries to lift up not only American workers but also workers around the world.

It's important that we enforce the agreements we have. That's why I've called for a trade prosecutor, to make sure that we do enforce them. The Bush administration has been totally missing in action. They haven't been enforcing the trade agreements at all.

It's important that we have good information to make judgments. And when I looked at some of the trade agreements that the Bush administration sent our way, I voted against CAFTA. I don't want to give fast-track authority to this president...

We have to have tougher standards on what they [the Chinese] import into this country. I do not want to eat bad food from China or have my children having toys that are going to get them sick. So let's be tougher on China going forward. (Cheers, applause.)

John Edwards: [T]here's also a trade safety issue here. What about 2 million toys that have come into the United States and had to be recalled from China? How about the fact that we don't have real country-of-origin labeling that the United States of America actually enforces, so the American people know what they're buying, where it's coming from?

We should have a president of the United States who enforces country-of-origin labeling. We should have a Consumer Product Safety Commission that's not looking out for big multinational corporations, that's actually looking out for the safety of our children here in America...

...NAFTA is a perfect example of the bigger problem. This deal was negotiated by Washington insiders, not by anybody in this stadium tonight. And the question is, when are we going to change it? It's cost us a million jobs. We need environmental and labor standards. We need actually the Justice Department prosecuting the standards under NAFTA.

Barack Obama: I would immediately call the president of Mexico, the president of Canada to try to amend NAFTA because I think that we can get labor agreements in that agreement right now. And it should reflect the basic principle that our trade agreements should not just be good for Wall Street, it should also be good for Main Street.

And the problem that we've had is, is that we've had corporate lobbyists, oftentimes involved in negotiating these trade agreements, but the AFL-CIO hasn't been involved; ordinary working people have not been involved. And we've got to make sure that our agreements are good for everybody, because globalization right now is creating winners and losers. But the problem is, it's the same winners and the same losers each and every time...

Well, look, people don't want a cheaper T-shirt if they're losing a job in the process. (Applause.) They would rather have the job and pay a little bit more for a T-shirt. And I think that's something that all Americans could agree to.

But this raises a larger point, which is, globalization is here. And we should be trading around the world. We don't want to just be standing still while the rest of the world is out there taking the steps that it needs to in order to expand trade.

The question is, on whose behalf is the president negotiating? Is he or she negotiating on behalf of the people in this stadium, or are you only negotiating on behalf of corporate profits?

...One other thing that has to be mentioned. Congress has a responsibility because we've got right now provisions in our tax code that reward companies that are moving jobs overseas instead of companies that are investing right here in the United States of America. And that is a reflection of the degree to which special interests have been shaping our trade policy. That's something that I'll end.

...China is a competitor, but they don't have an enemy, as long as we understand that they are going to be negotiating aggressively for their advantage, and we've got to have a president in the White House who's negotiating to make sure that we're looking after American workers. That means enforcing our trade agreements; it means that if they're manipulating their currency, that we take them to the mat on that issue; it means that we are also not running up deficits and asking China to bail us out and finance them, because it's pretty hard to have a tough negotiation when the Chinese are our bankers. (Cheers, applause.) And that's something that we're going to have to change.

Bill Richardson: We should never have another trade agreement unless it enforces labor protection, environmental standards and job safety. What we need to do is say that from now on, America will adhere to all international labor standards in any trade agreement - no child labor, no slave labor, freedom of association, collective bargaining - that is critically important - making sure that no wage disparity exists.

...China is a strategic competitor. And we've got to be tougher on China when it comes to human rights and trade. We've got to say to China, you've got to stop fooling around with currency. You've got to find ways, too, to be more sensitive to your workers, and you've got to do more, China, in the area of human rights around the world, like put pressure on the Sudan to stop the genocide in Darfur. (Cheers, applause.)

Joe Biden: Hey look, a president's job is to create jobs, not to export jobs, and the idea that we are not willing to take the prime minister of Canada and the president of Mexico to the mat to make this agreement [NAFTA] work is just a lack of presidential leadership. I would lead, I would do that, I would change it. (Applause.)

...The fact of the matter is, though, they [China] hold the mortgage on our house. (Crowd reacts.) This administration, in order to fund a war that shouldn't be being fought and tax cuts that weren't needed for the wealthy - we're now in debt almost a trillion dollars - a trillion dollars to China. We better end that war, cut those taxes, reduce the deficit and make sure that they no longer own the mortgage on our home.

Christopher Dodd: In addition to having trading agreements that include labor, environmental, health provisions in them, insisting on those provisions in any trading agreement here, we need to stop exporting the jobs in the country that already are here. I offered legislation by banning the outsourcing of jobs in the Senate.

...And I'm proud to say for 26 years on every major issue that labor's been involved in I've stood with you. I've stood with labor in banning outsourcing of jobs, of offset contracts, of situs picketing, on plant closing legislation. We need to stand up for the American worker here. That's the best way to create jobs in the United States.

...In fact, last week, we - I passed legislation out of the committee to deal with the Chinese currency situation. It's a massive subsidy for them in terms of disadvantaging our manufacturers here.

And I would say they're [China] a competitor, but be careful. It's getting close to adversary. Let's not have any illusions here. China's investing a great deal of its resources in building up a military capacity. And in the 21st century, we'd better recognize here, while they're competitors today, if we're not careful here, then we could face some serious problems with China in the latter part of this century.

We need to be insisting, Keith, [Keith Olbermann, the MSNBC sportscaster and news commentator who moderated the event]that for every product or every ability they are - in our shelves here, we need to be insisting that we have access to their shelves, to their marketplaces. That's not happening, and it needs to stop.

Dennis Kucinich: I want a new American manufacturing policy, where the maintenance of steel, automotive, aerospace and shipping is seen as vital for our national security. And I want to see America take a new direction in trade as part of this, and that means it's time to get out of NAFTA and the WTO - (cheers) - and have trade - and have trade - and have trade that's based on workers rights: the right to organize, the right to collective bargaining, the right to decent wages and benefits and on and on. I'm here for workers' standards. (Cheers.)

...In my first week in office, I will notify Mexico and Canada that the United States is withdrawing from NAFTA. I will notify the WTO we're withdrawing from the WTO. (Applause.)