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Ralph Nader on Trade and Economics
Ralph Nader was present at the creation of the movement against corporate globalization and created Global Trade Watch, which mobilized global justice demonstrations, including the "Battle in Seattle" in 1999. Nader has written extensively on the subject, including in "The Case Against Free Trade: GATT, NAFTA and the Globalization of Corporate Power."
"NAFTA and the WTO makes commercial trade supreme over environmental, labor, and consumer standards and need to be replaced with open agreements that pull-up rather than pull down these standards. While global trade is a fact of life, trade policies must be open, democratic & not strip-mine environmental, social and labor standards. These latter standards should have their own international pull up treaties."
"Millions of manufacturing jobs in this country have been shipped overseas. This transfer was supposed to be part of the "win-win" process of free trade. But 27 straight years of growing trade deficits makes one wonder: who's winning?"
In the Public Interest: "The Job Export Machine" Jul 9, 2003
Nader came down as a resolute opponent of trade treaties such as GATT and NAFTA. Congress passed these treaties under fast-track authority, and Nader's concern was that there had been insufficient public debate. What Nader worked hard to publicize was that NAFTA and GATT were written in such a way that they have the potential to supersede the laws of the participating countries. In other words, rules governing free trade can undercut domestic laws designed to protect consumers and the environment.
Nader: Crusader, Spoiler, Icon, by Justin Martin, p.251 Sep 1, 2002
A fair trader rather than a free-trader, Nader would renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, and the World Trade Organization “as if human beings mattered, not global corporations,” insisting on meaningful environmental and worker protections.
Boston Globe, page D1 Oct 8, 2000, by Scot Lehigh
"WTO and NAFTA are…transnational forms of autocratic governance that subordinate our own courts and our own regulatory agencies, and health, environment, labor and consumer standards."
Ralph Nader has stated that exploiting immigrant workers puts a downward pressure on US labor wages and standards. A $10 minimum wage would open many of these jobs to unemployed American workers.
"We need to crack down on employers who don't want to support a $10 minimum wage."
"The political damage of Taft-Hartley was just as severe. In addition to starting an era of red-baiting with the American labor movement which led to harmful internal division (a now-invalidated provision of Taft-Hartley required union leaders to sign anti-Communist affidavits), the Act sent a message to employers: It was OK to bust unions and deny workers their rights to collectively bargain. It is past time for the repeal of Taft-Hartley. That would be one important step in restoring workers’ right to organize into unions to achieve a living wage in the Wal-Marts, McDonald's and other workplaces, and in revitalizing American democracy."
"[There is a] critical need for labor law reform to jettison the many obstacles to and opportunities for corporations and their union-busting law firms to smash any incipient organizing drive in factories or other large low-pay corporate workplaces like Wal-Mart. In no other western country do such facile obstructions exist in law."
"How should we deal with the price versus cost dilemma as a society?…Consider the proposed Save the Family Farm legislation, drafted by farmers and introduced by Tom Harkin. It proposes that farmers limit production of farm goods nationwide at the same time as the nation established a minimum price for farm goods...The law's sponsors estimate such a program would increase the retail cost of agricultural products by three to five percent, but this would be more than offset by dramatically reduced public tax expenditures spent on farm subsidies."
"The government maintains a variety of agricultural subsidies, ranging from irrigation subsidies to crop insurance and price supports for certain commodities. Many of these benefits accrue to corporate agribusiness, and often support environmentally harmful farm practices (such as overuse of water). The original purpose of farm supports was to support family farmers and enhance stability in agricultural markets, and it is doubtful whether the programs still fill this function. At the same time, many farm supports were eliminated in the 1996 Farm Bill, with the general effect of promoting agribusiness consolidation and increased power for grain traders. Food prices have not declined. All of this suggests the need for a serious and open-minded reassessment of farm programs, so that the public interest in protecting family farms and sustainable agriculture is advanced, while subsidies for large agribusiness are curtailed."
The key to Nader’s clout is frustration on the left, especially when it comes to the globalization initiatives of Bill Clinton. Nader lashes out at the World Trade Organization and the recent passage of Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China. Such agreements, he charges, betray workers here and abroad by ignoring labor and environmental standards.
Time magazine, p. 79 Nov 6, 2000, by Matthew Cooper
"I don't mind trade with China in non-weapons and non-toxic materials..."
"[We should] demand that the Chinese issue tough safety standards, or they just can't get into our market.... We have to have standards, not just to cover American-produced goods, but all the goods that come from overseas.... We need a strong consumer protection treaty with China where the consumer's health and safety -- Chinese and American -- comes first."