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For the last ten years, North Americans have lived with the negative
impacts of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). Despite
its proven failure, the U.S. Trade Representative and the Bush
Administration are now pushing for an expansion of NAFTA through
another bi-lateral trade agreement, CAFTA.
CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement, is a regional
agreement between the United States, five Central American countries,
Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala, and
the Dominican Republic.
CAFTA uses the same failed models of NAFTA. The agreement text
includes “investor to state provisions” which gives
foreign companies the right to sue state, local and federal governments
of another country if they pass laws that take away that companies
ability to make a profit.
Like NAFTA, this trade agreement threatens family farmers and
ranchers. It favors corporate agribusinesses that keep commodity
prices low and flood local markets with cheap imports. This allows
these corporations to buy their inputs at the lowest possible price,
process their products with the lowest cost labor and import that
food into the U.S. at the highest possible profit.
CAFTA is free trade we can't afford.
PRBRC ad
(pdf 39kb)
Region Strongly Opposes CAFTA
Statement by Reed Kelley, Co-chair of
WORC ’s Trade Team.
Narrow Senate Vote Reveals Regional Rejection of CAFTA
WORC STATEMENT
CAFTA (pdf 110k)
trade agreement threatens family farmers and ranchers,rural
communities,workers and sovereignty.
Investor to State Provisions: Putting Profit Before People
Read
Investor to State Provisions factsheet (pdf 141k)
WORC tells Congress fair trade is good for farmers, ranchers and consumers.
Read
WORC's testimony on Central American Free Trade Agreement
(pdf 18k)
Action
Alert: Urge Your Senators and Representatives to Oppose
CAFTA
(pdf 8k)
New
Public Citizen report analyzes 42 NAFTA Investor-State challenges
and illustrates how proposed CAFTA would extend threat.
More information
on CAFTA (pdf 803k)
•
The multi-national corporations who continue to boast record profits.
• Farmers in both the U.S. and Central America who are forced
to compete against each other for the lowest possible price in
order to have a market for their commodity;
•
Workers in Central American countries who are forced to compete
for the lowest possible wages, the fewest possible benefits, and
the lowest cost working conditions in order to “win” a
contract with these multi-national companies;
•
Rural communities which dwindle in all CAFTA countries as fewer
and fewer family farmers are able to compete forcing them out of
business and driving away the lifeblood of rural towns and villages;
and
•
Consumers who are forced to purchase food with no country of origin
label and no assurance that their food was produced and processed
in a safe, sustainable, healthy way.
This agreement has been negotiated and signed
by the president. The final text is complete and can be accessed
here.
CAFTA is expected to be acted upon by Congress during a lame duck
session shortly after elections.
You can stop this trade agreement from becoming a reality. Call
your Representatives and Senators today. Tell them not to expand
the failure of NAFTA and to take a public position to vote NO on
CAFTA. |
