US farmers and domestic manufacturers ally against “free trade”
Shortly after the midterm congressional elections last month, a group of farmers and domestic manufacturers met in Colorado Springs to voice their mutual discontent with US foreign trade policy. Their leaders included US steel manufacturer, Nucor, the National Farmers Union, the American Corn Growers Association, the California Farmers Union and the California Dairy Campaign.
While congressional debate over the 2007 Farm Bill heats up, for the first time ever the country is expected to have a trade deficit in agricultural products. In 1996, we had a $27-billion surplus in agricultural trade, which had shrunk to $3.7 billion by 2005. Meanwhile, agricultural imports have risen from $33.5 billion in 1996 to $59.3 billion in 2005 while US agricultural exports were $60.3 billion in 1996, $51 billion in 2000 and back up to $63 billion in 2005. The difference between $59.3 billion in imports and $63 billion in agricultural exports is expected to evaporate this year.
“Agricultural imports from China have more than tripled since 1998, growing from $641 million to $2.1 billion in 2005,” said Richard McCormack, Manufacturing News, Dec. 15.
Manufacturing News reported:
"We are people who are getting off our asses and are doing something," says Fred Stokes, a Mississippi farmer and executive director of the Organization for Competitive Markets, which is spearheading the initiative. "We're building a coalition of manufacturing, agriculture, services, labor, consumer interests, environmentalists and Archie Bunker regular Americans who give a damn about the country and who will come together and say we are doing it wrong. There is an argument to be made that we need trade, but there is nothing that we can produce in this country that somebody somewhere else can produce cheaper, so the question is, what are we going to do?"
The group made a statement of purpose to lay out the case for a change in US foreign trade policy:
This week of Nov. 15, 2006, members of grassroots organizations representing America's farmers, workers and manufacturers met in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to form a new coalition.
Multinational corporate-controlled globalization is undermining the well being and prosperity of farmers and rural America, working families, domestic manufacturers and the service industries depending on them. It is built on policies that threaten and harm workers and families in every sector of the American and world economies.
We must address current corporate conduct and corporate control of government policy. Communities and families are under economic assault and that assault undermines our fundamental American democratic values.
Existing trade agreements have caused tremendous trade deficits, harmed future American innovation prospects, resulted in tens of thousands of manufacturing company closures and eliminated millions of manufacturing jobs. They have also compromised national security and undermined national sovereignty.
We support a mutually beneficial fair trade policy that delivers broadly shared benefits for workers, farmers and manufacturers everywhere;
We believe that it is urgently necessary to pursue trade policies that recognize the full range of societal concerns.
We accept trade as fundamental, but it must balance producer, consumer and trading partner interests.
We recognize that markets serve the economic interest of individuals and businesses but they must also serve democratic values.
We are committed to developing a New Global Trade and Investment Agenda that serves the people who make and grow things in all countries. The agenda must include and improve labor and environmental standards, food security and national security. It must realign corporate and trade objectives to serve the nation's public and private interests.
Signatories:
Organization for Competitive Markets
Colorado Springs Manufacturing Task Force
National Farmers Union
California Farmers Union
California Dairy Campaign
National Catholic Rural Life Conference
Made In USA Strategies
American Corn Growers Association
Note:
12-15-06
Manufacturing News
Domestic Manufacturers And Farmers Form Alliance To Battle Against Proponents Of Free Trade -- The Two Issue A Joint 'Statement Of Purpose'
by Richard McCormack
A new coalition is being formed by farmers, manufacturers and labor officials who are frustrated with multinational companies' control of a trade agenda they say is devastating the U.S. economy. The coalition has the backing of Nucor, the country's most respected steel manufacturer, the National Farmers Union, American Corn Growers Association, the Colorado Springs Manufacturing Task Force and others. It is currently putting together a leadership team and will take its battle against corporate interests to both Washington, D.C., and America's heartland...