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Jewish World Review May 19, 2005 / 10 Iyar , 5765 CAFTA hard sell By Ruben Navarrette Jr.
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
For President Antonio Saca of El Salvador, the Central American Free Trade Agreement is a no-brainer. He considers it a "win-win" proposition and — that being the case — he probably doesn't fully understand why the American people need to be sold on the trade pact.
Yet opposition to the agreement — which was signed one year ago but still needs to be approved by Congress — has become so intense that the chances for passing it don't look good.
There are the usual suspects, including the environmental lobby and labor unions concerned about the wage gap between U.S. workers and those in Central America. They have been joined this time around by the sugar lobby, which is worried about competition. There are also human rights groups that insist that the trade agreement will — in both the United States and Central America — benefit the wealthy and do nothing to improve the lot of the poor.
The same groups opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement 10 years ago, and there was probably never any chance they were going to support CAFTA. And yet, this time around, there's also a wild card — namely those Americans who supported NAFTA but now have buyer's remorse because they feel the trade agreement didn't quite live up to the billing.
That's the group of detractors that should most worry CAFTA supporters, including the Bush administration and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Maybe that's why the administration seems to be pulling out all the stops to get the treaty ratified by Congress as quickly as possible.
That includes importing a half-dozen foreign heads of states to personally lobby for the agreement. And that's how the presidents of El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic found themselves touring the United States last week and singing CAFTA's praises.
The band of presidents met with members of Congress in their home districts and conferred with newspaper editorial boards, business groups and leaders of both parties before arriving in Washington for a private meeting with President Bush.
That's the royal treatment — and for a part of the world that normally comes into focus only when things go wrong, as when Central America became an extension of the Cold War during the Reagan administration.
For Saca, it seems the Reagan years are never far from his mind.
"It is always important to remember where we come from," he told the editorial board of the San Diego Union-Tribune. "After all the conflicts and wars in Central America, today we live in peace and democracy."
Saca insisted that trade, jobs and other economic opportunities are essential if the region is going to continue on the straight and narrow path politically.
That's a lot to put on the shoulders of one trade agreement, and it might help illustrate why CAFTA has yet to get any traction. It's because the supporters are overselling it.
To hear Saca tell it, CAFTA will allow Central American countries to expand their exports, including the export of familiar products to the 2.5 million Salvadorans living in the United States. It will serve as a "vaccine against China" by creating enough new opportunities in Central America that it slows the exodus of jobs to China. And it will reduce immigration by creating enough prosperity in Central America so that people won't want to "come en masse to the United States."
Oh, is that all? Look, CAFTA supporters may be absolutely right about the economic and political benefits of the agreement. But, by pitching it so hard and portraying it as a cure-all, they are only creating more cynics and hurting its chances.
The trade debate isn't black and white. One should be able to support the principles of encouraging commerce across international borders and still raise questions about specific agreements.
With CAFTA, there are still plenty of questions. The administration had better ease up on the hard sell and come up with some convincing answers.
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Mitch Albom | |||||||||||
