← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Sertorius
Thread ID: 17438 | Posts: 2 | Started: 2005-03-21
2005-03-21 15:19 | User Profile
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Latin diplomats push free-trade deal Dan Chapman - Staff Monday, March 21, 2005
China Grove, N.C. --- Last month, U.S. and Central American officials zipped right by this scruffy textile town on a bus en route to Raleigh to extol the virtues of free trade across the Americas.
They drank Bud Light, munched peanuts and felt satisfied that support for the controversial trade pact was growing among North Carolina textile executives whose industry was rocked by another American free-trade deal, NAFTA.
Ambassadors from Guatemala, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic will continue their free-trade road show today in Atlanta. They again will attempt to sway a largely sympathetic audience, Georgia businessmen, on the benefits of the Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA.
In Georgia, as with North Carolina, the ambassadors will avoid the blue-collar Joes and Janes who typically pay the job-loss price whenever the U.S. market is further opened to imports. If the group speeding across the economically devastated Piedmont region in mid-February had pulled off Interstate 85, they might have run across Debbie Horn.
"I don't know if I'll have a job in six months," said Horn, a 26-year mill veteran who works for National Textiles in China Grove. "Working class people always have a hard time finding another job. The government needs to step in and not let so much imports come in."
In an odd twist on conventional free-trade wisdom, though, more imports might actually benefit Horn and her fellow yarn-spinners across the South.
Cementing trade ties with Central America --- North Carolina sells $1.3 billion in yarn and other textiles there annually --- might strengthen the U.S. textile industry in the long run. If Costa Rica can ship millions of additional T-shirts and blue jeans to the United States, it will need to buy more U.S.-made yarn.
But CAFTA's true importance, according to National Textile CEO Jerry Rowland, is as a bulwark against the surging tide of Chinese imports that threaten to swamp what remains of the Americas-wide textile and apparel industry.
Put simply, if low-wage China can sell blue jeans cheaper than Latin America, who will buy Rowland's yarn?
"CAFTA is absolutely vital for the survival of the U.S. textile industry; China is the potential death knell," said Rowland. "But if you make fabric in the United States and send it to Central America to sew it and then send it back here without paying a duty you can compete with China."
More U.S. jobs?
The trade deal, which Congress will begin debating in April, would eliminate tariffs on 80 percent of U.S. products.
The region ranks in the top 10 for Georgia exports, accounting for $563 million in sales last year. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, sponsor of the ambassadorial road show, estimates that Georgia's economy could reap "a potential increase" of $262 million and 1,500 new jobs in CAFTA's first year.
CAFTA groups six countries --- Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.
The deal, signed by President Bush and his Latin American counterparts, is a relatively minor one in the global scheme of things. But a no vote from Congress would stymie already slim chances of creating a Free Trade Area of the Americas, the Hemisphere-wide trade zone pushed by Bush. (Atlanta officials seek the FTAA headquarters.)
CAFTA faces tough sledding in Congress. Most Southern legislators, like Rep. Howard Coble, a Republican whose district includes China Grove, see CAFTA as a Baby NAFTA.
"If the vote were held today, he'd vote no because of the impact it would have on the textile and apparel industry," said Ed McDonald, Coble's chief of staff. "He voted for NAFTA and, to this day he gets criticized for every job lost at home."
Few states suffered from NAFTA like North Carolina. Its textile mills and apparel factories lost 164,200 jobs to low-wage Mexico since NAFTA's inception in 1994.
The Piedmont region stretching across North Carolina's midsection has borne the brunt. China Grove, surprisingly, hangs on. Yarn mills anchor each end of the town (pop. 3,600) named for a stand of chinaberry trees.
Fewer making more
From the outside, National Textiles harkens images of mill towns gone by. The windowless, two-story, red-brick buildings which date to 1920 look worn, no different than many of the now-vacant mills dotting the Piedmont.
Inside, though, modernity rules. National Textiles bought the mill in 2000 and replaced most of the machinery with new and efficient Swiss, German and Japanese equipment.
Half as many workers --- there were 340 just five years ago --- spin more cotton than ever before. The mill produces 400,000 pounds of cotton weekly, most for Sara Lee which then supplies factories in Central America that produce Hanes underwear or Outer Bank golf shirts.
Textiles represent North Carolina's largest export to the CAFTA countries. The U.S. Chamber estimates that the state's economy will receive a $730 million economic boost and an additional 5,373 jobs in CAFTA's first year.
"NAFTA rhymes with CAFTA, but the similarities end there," assistant U.S. Trade Representative Chris Padilla told Raleigh businessmen gathered at N.C. State University for the road show.
Critics aren't as sure.
U.S. sugar growers, like textile workers, fear an onslaught of imports. Latino civil rights groups say unfettered U.S. exports, corn and rice, in particular, will decimate small farms and lead tens of thousands of Central Americans to cross illegally into the United States.
Environmental and labor groups discount CAFTA safeguards meant to protect workers here and abroad, adding that U.S. multinationals will wield power at the expense of local governments.
"It's just an extended version of a bad trade policy called NAFTA," said Ray Riffe, secretary-treasurer for the North Carolina AFL-CIO. "You don't have to talk to a lot of a whole lot of folks in North Carolina who know how devastating it would be for working families."
How many of you lurkers were aware of this latest "free trade" scam? I haven't heard Rush, Sean or Neal talking about it. Have you? No, instead you have heard a lot about Sen. Byrd being a former klansman and what a collection of obstructionists the Democrats are, but nothing about a deal that will further destroy the U.S. manufacturing base. [u]Turn off the radio and do some reading.[/u] You would be surprised what you can learn that you won't hear from fakirs like Rush, Sean and Neal.
"CAFTA is absolutely vital for the survival of the U.S. textile industry; China is the potential death knell," said Rowland. "But if you make fabric in the United States and send it to Central America to sew it and then send it back here without paying a duty you can compete with China."
Hey, Rowland. Why not keep making the fabric here and place a tariff on the crap that comes in overseas? Sounds like a plan to me.
The region ranks in the top 10 for Georgia exports, accounting for $563 million in sales last year. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, sponsor of the ambassadorial road show, estimates that Georgia's economy could reap "a potential increase" of $262 million and 1,500 new jobs in CAFTA's first year.
Really now?
Textiles represent North Carolina's largest export to the CAFTA countries. The U.S. Chamber estimates that the state's economy will receive a $730 million economic boost and an additional 5,373 jobs in CAFTA's first year.
I wouldn't believe a damn thing the U.S. (sic) Chamber of Commerce claims. I still remember all the lies they told during the NAFTA debate. I'd love to see how they arrived at these figures for job "growth". Are they taking into account how many jobs will be lost overall, does this represent a net job growth in the states or are they focused in a narrow area? Or maybe they are jobs at Wal-Mart? How much do they pay in relation to the jobs lost?
I can't resist commenting on this:
(Atlanta officials seek the FTAA headquarters.)
And I hope they fail. Atlanta has had far too much growth to the point that it is getting as bad as L.A. or N.Y.C. We don't need anymore people moving here and we sure as hell don't need anymore Mexicans or other folks from Latin America coming here for just as sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west I know it will be they who build this latest tower of Babal.
2005-03-21 16:14 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Sertorius]Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Latin diplomats push free-trade deal Dan Chapman - Staff Monday, March 21, 2005
China Grove, N.C. --- Last month, U.S. and Central American officials zipped right by this scruffy textile town on a bus en route to Raleigh to extol the virtues of free trade across the Americas...
========================= [COLOR=Red][B]How many of you lurkers were aware of this latest "free trade" scam?[/B] [/COLOR] I haven't heard Rush, Sean or Neal talking about it. Have you? No, instead you have heard a lot about Sen. Byrd being a former klansman and what a collection of obstructionists the Democrats are, but nothing about a deal that will further destroy the U.S. manufacturing base. [u]Turn off the radio and do some reading.[/u] You would be surprised what you can learn that you won't hear from fakirs like Rush, Sean and Neal.[/QUOTE]I hope lurkers can be enticed to enter the debate. More attention should be paid to them.