Carl Levin Statement on Senate Peru Free Trade Agreement

December 4, 2007 -- Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, in my view the United States has pursued failed trade policies for the past 20 years or more. This failed trade policy is reflected in our record trade deficits with the world. This failed trade policy has led us to accept a one-way street in trade where we allow too many countries access to our markets without insisting that they give us reciprocal access to theirs.

I have opposed trade agreements when they were in the same failed mold as our past trade policy, when they clearly were not requiring a more level playing field for U.S. manufacturers, farmers and service sector employees and when they failed to insist on basic internationally recognized labor and environmental standards. However, I have supported trade agreements that leveled the playing field and that did include strong and enforceable internationally recognized labor and environmental standards.

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I particularly commend the work of my brother, Representative Sander Levin, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, and others, for substantially improving the Peru Free Trade Agreement by reopening this agreement to incorporate enforceable worker rights and environmental standards in the body of the agreement. This is something Democrats have been working to include in trade agreements for over a decade. I agree with my brother who has characterized this groundbreaking achievement as, “an historic breakthrough on trade by amending pending U.S. free trade agreements to incorporate a fully enforceable commitment that countries adopt and enforce the five basic international labor standards, subject to the same dispute settlement mechanism and remedies as other FTA obligations.”

This breakthrough is surely of critical importance. For the first time in any FTA, the labor chapter requires both the United States and Peru to adopt and maintain domestic laws to implement the five core standards incorporated in the 1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. These include 1) the right to organize; 2) the right to bargain collectively; 3) prohibitions on forced labor; 4) protections for child labor; and 5) freedom from employment discrimination.

The agreement also requires for the first time that the United States and Peru adopt and maintain domestic laws to implement the obligations in the seven multilateral environmental agreements that both the United States and Peru are party to. All of these added obligations are subject to the same dispute settlement mechanism that applies to all other FTA obligations.

Mr. President, Peru is a small economy and makes up less than one percent of overall U.S. trade and in 2006 was only our 43rd largest export market. Furthermore, 98 percent of U.S. imports from Peru already enter the United States duty free under the Andean Trade Preferences Act and the General System of Preferences. The Peru FTA will at least give American exports a more level playing field in Peru by allowing them to enter Peru duty free, which is currently not the case, although Peruvian products already enter the U.S. duty free.

As a rule, I do not like the idea of trade agreements coming up under fast track procedures because it limits members of Congress to an up or down vote with no chance to amend or improve it. Thankfully we did not extend fast track authority. In this case, my brother Sandy Levin and others successfully amended this agreement through an historic bipartisan agreement which vastly improved the agreement. The changes that were made represent an important break with the failed and flawed trade policies of the past and signify a better approach to trade that supports American workers and protects the environment. For all of these reasons I will vote for the Peru Free Trade Agreement implementing legislation.

Source: Senator Carl Levin